,,the ,,new ,,jerusalem    by    ,g4 ,k4
 ,,chesterton                ,,preface  
,this book is only an uncomfortably     
large note-book2 and it has  the        
disadvantages1 whether or no it has the 
advantages1 of notes that were  taken on
 the spot4  ,owing to the unexpected    
distraction of other duties1  the notes 
were published in a newspaper as they   
were made on the spot2  and are now     
reproduced in a book as they were       
published in the newspaper4  ,the only  
exception refers to the last chapter on 
,zionism2 and even  there the book only 
reverts to the original note-book4 ,a   
difference  of opinion1 which divided   
the writer of the book from the politics
  of the newspaper1 prevented the       
complete publication of that chapter  in
 that place4  ,i recognise that any     
expurgated form of it would  have       
falsified the proportions of my attempt 
to do justice in a very  difficult      
problem2 but on re-reading even my own  
attempt in extenso1  ,i am far from     

satisfied that the proper proportions   
are kept4  ,i wrote these first         
impressions in ,palestine1 where        
everybody  recognises the ,jew as       
something quite distinct from the       
,englishman  or the ,european2 and where
 his unpopularity even moved me in the  
direction of his defence4  ,but ,i admit
 it was something of a shock  to return 
to a conventional atmosphere1 in which  
that unpopularity  is still actually    
denied or described as mere persecution4
  ,it was more of a shock to realise    
that this most obscurantist of all types
  of obscurantism is still sometimes    
regarded as a sort of liberalism4  ,to  
talk of the ,jews always as the         
oppressed and never as the  oppressors  
is simply absurd2 it is as if men       
pleaded for reasonable  help for exiled 
,french aristocrats or ruined ,irish    
landlords1  and forgot that the ,french 
and ,irish peasants had any wrongs at   
all4  ,moreover1 the ,jews in the ,west 
do not seem so much concerned to ask1   

as ,i have done however tentatively     
here1 whether a larger and less  local  
colonial development might really       
transfer the bulk of ,israel  to a more 
independent basis1 as simply to demand  
that ,jews shall  continue to control   
other nations as well as their own4  ,it
 might be  worth while for ,england to  
take risks to settle the ,jewish        
problem2  but not to take risks merely  
to unsettle the ,arab problem1  and     
leave the ,jewish problem unsolved4     
,for the rest1 there must under the     
circumstances be only too  many         
mistakes2 the historical conjectures1   
for they can be no more1  are founded on
 authorities sufficiently recognised for
 me to be permitted  to trust them2 but 
,i have never pretended to the knowledge
 necessary  to check them4  ,i am aware 
that there are many disputed points2  as
 for instance the connection of ,gerard1
 the fiery ,templar1  with the ,english 
town of ,bideford4  ,i am also aware    
that some are  sensitive about the      

spelling of words2 and the very         
proof-readers  will sometimes revolt and
 turn ,mahomet into ,mohammed4  ,upon   
this point1 however1 ,i am unrepentant2 
for ,i never could see  the point of    
altering a form with historic and even  
heroic fame in our  own language1 for   
the sake of reproducing by an           
arrangement of our  letters something   
that is really written in quite         
different letters1  and probably        
pronounced with quite a different       
accent4  ,in speaking  of the great     
prophet ,i am therefore resolved to call
 him ,mahomet2  and am prepared1 on     
further provocation1 to call him        
,mahound4    ,g4 ,k4 ,c4                
,,contents     ,,chapter ,i      ,,the  
,,way ,,of ,,the ,,cities   ,,chapter   
,,ii     ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,the ,,desert
   ,,chapter ,,iii    ,,the ,,gates ,,of
 ,,the ,,city   ,,chapter ,,iv     ,,the
 ,,philosophy ,,of ,,sight-,,seeing     
,,chapter ,v      ,,the ,,streets ,,of  
,,the ,,city   ,,chapter ,,vi     ,,the 

,,groups ,,of ,,the ,,city   ,,chapter  
,,vii    ,,the ,,shadow ,,of ,,the      
,,problem   ,,chapter ,,viii   ,,the    
,,other ,,side ,,of ,,the ,,desert      
,,chapter ,,ix     ,,the ,,battle ,,with
 ,,the ,,dragon   ,,chapter ,x          
,,the ,,endless ,,empire   ,,chapter    
,,xi     ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,the     
,,crusade   ,,chapter ,,xii    ,,the    
,,fall ,,of ,,chivalry   ,,chapter      
,,xiii   ,,the ,,problem ,,of ,,zionism 
,,conclusion          ,,chapter ,i      
,,the ,,way ,,of ,,the ,,cities    ,it  
was in the season of ,christmas that ,i 
came out of my little garden  in that   
field of the beeches between the        
,chilterns and the ,thames1  and began  
to walk backwards through history to the
 place from which  ,christmas came4     
,for it is often necessary to walk      
backwards1 as a man  on the wrong road  
goes back to a sign-post to find the    
right road4  ,the modern man is more    
like a traveller who has forgotten the  
name  of his destination1 and has to go 

back whence he came1 even to find out   
where he is going4  ,that the world has 
lost its way few will now deny2  and it 
did seem to me that ,i found at last a  
sort of sign-post1  of a singular and   
significant shape1 and saw for a moment 
in my mind  the true map of the modern  
wanderings2 but whether ,i shall be able
  to say anything of what ,i saw1 this  
story must show4    ,i had said farewell
 to all my friends1 or all those with my
 own limited  number of legs2 and       
nothing living remained but a dog and a 
donkey4  ,the reader will learn with    
surprise that my first feeling of       
fellowship  went out to the dog2 ,i am  
well aware that ,i lay open my guard to 
a lunge  of wit4  ,the dog is rather    
like a donkey1 or a small caricature of 
one1  with a large black head and long  
black ears2 but in the mood of the      
moment there was rather a moral contrast
 than a pictorial parallel4  ,for the   
dog did indeed seem to stand for home   
and everything ,i was  leaving behind   

me1 with reluctance1 especially that    
season of the year4  ,for one thing1 he 
is named after ,mr4 ,winkle1 the        
,christmas guest  of ,mr4 ,wardle2 and  
there is indeed something ,dickensian in
 his union  of domesticity with         
exuberance4  ,he jumped about me1       
barking like  a small battery1 under the
 impression that ,i was going for a     
walk2  but ,i could not1 alas1 take him 
with me on a stroll to ,palestine4      
,incidentally1 he would have been out of
 place2 for dogs have not  their due    
honour in the ,east2 and this seemed to 
sharpen my sense  of my own domestic    
sentinel as a sort of symbol of the     
,west4  ,on the other hand1 the ,east is
 full of donkeys1 often very  dignified 
donkeys2 and when ,i turned my attention
 to the other  grotesque quadruped1 with
 an even larger head and even longer    
ears1  he seemed to take on a deep shade
 of oriental mystery4  ,i know not why  
these two absurd creatures tangled      
themselves up  so much in my train of   

thought1 like dragons in an illuminated 
text2  or ramped like gargoyles on      
either side of the gateway of my        
adventure4  ,but in truth they were in  
some sense symbols of the ,west and the 
,east  after all4  ,the dog's very      
lawlessness is but an extravagance  of  
loyalty2 he will go mad with joy three  
times on the same day1  at going out for
 a walk down the same road4  ,the modern
 world  is full of fantastic forms of   
animal worship2 a religion generally    
accompanied with human sacrifice4  ,yet 
we hear strangely little of  the real   
merits of animals2 and one of them      
surely is this innocence  of all        
boredom2 perhaps such simplicity is the 
absence of sin4  ,i have some sense     
myself of the sacred duty of surprise2  
and the need of seeing the old road as a
 new road4  ,but ,i cannot  claim that  
whenever ,i go out for a walk with my   
family and friends1  ,i rush in front of
 them volleying vociferous shouts of    
happiness2  or even leap up round them  

attempting to lick their faces4  ,it is 
in this  power of beginning again with  
energy upon familiar and homely things  
that the dog is really the eternal type 
of the ,western civilisation4  ,and the 
donkey is really as different as is the 
,eastern civilisation4  ,his very       
anarchy is a sort of secrecy2 his very  
revolt is a secret4  ,he does not leap  
up because he wishes to share my walk1  
but to follow his own way1 as lonely as 
the wild ass of ,scripture4  ,my own    
beast of burden supports the authority  
of ,scripture  by being a very wild ass4
  ,i have given him the name of         
,trotsky1  because he seldom trots1 but 
either scampers or stands still4  ,he   
scampers all over the field when it is  
necessary to catch him1  and stands     
still when it is really urgent to drive 
him4  ,he also breaks fences1 eats      
vegetables1 and fulfills other          
functions2  between delays and          
destructions he could ruin a really poor
 man  in a day4  ,i wish this fact were 

more often remembered1 in judging       
whether really poor men have really been
 cruel to donkeys4  ,but ,i assure the  
reader that ,i am not cruel to my       
donkey2 the cruelty  is all the other   
way4  ,he kicks the people who try to   
catch him2  and again ,i am haunted by a
 dim human parallel4  ,for it seems to  
me  that many of us1 in just detestation
 of the dirty trick of cruelty  to      
animals1 have really a great deal of    
patience with animals2  more patience1  
,i fear1 than many of us have with human
 beings4  ,suppose ,i had to go out and 
catch my secretary in a field  every    
morning2 and suppose my secretary always
 kicked me by way  of beginning the     
day's work2 ,i wonder whether that day's
 work  would resume its normal course as
 if nothing had happened4  ,nothing     
graver than these grotesque images and  
groping speculations  would come into my
 conscious mind just then1 though at the
 back  of it there was an indescribable 
sense of regret and parting4  ,all      

through my wanderings the dog remained  
in my memory as a  ,dickensian and      
domestic emblem of ,england2 and if it  
is difficult  to take a donkey          
seriously1 it ought to be easiest1 at   
least1  for a man who is going to       
,jerusalem4    ,there was a cloud of    
,christmas weather on the great grey    
beech-woods  and the silver cross of the
 cross-roads4 ,for the four roads that  
meet  in the market-place of my little  
town make one of the largest and        
simplest of such outlines on the map of 
,england2 and the shape as it  shines on
 that wooded chart always affects me in 
a singular fashion4  ,the sight of the  
cross-roads is in a true sense the sign 
of the cross4  ,for it is the sign of a 
truly ,christian thing2 that sharp      
combination  of liberty and limitation  
which we call choice4  ,a man is        
entirely  free to choose between right  
and left1 or between right and wrong4   
,as ,i looked for the last time at the  
pale roads under the load of cloud1  ,i 

knew that our civilisation had indeed   
come to the cross-roads4  ,as the paths 
grew fainter1 fading under the gathering
 shadow1  ,i felt rather as if it had   
lost its way in a forest4    ,it was at 
the time when people were talking about 
some menace  of the end of the world1   
not apocalyptic but astronomical2  and  
the cloud that covered the little town  
of ,beaconsfield might  have fitted in  
with such a fancy4  ,it faded1 however1 
as ,i left  the place further behind2   
and in ,london the weather1 though wet1 
was comparatively clear4  ,it was almost
 as if ,beaconsfield had  a domestic day
 of judgment1 and an end of the world   
all to itself4  ,in a sense             
,beaconsfield has four ends of the      
world1 for its  four corners are named  
ends after the four nearest towns4  ,but
 ,i was concerned only with the one     
called ,london ,end2  and the very name 
of it was like a vision of some vain    
thing at  once ultimate and infinite4   
,the very title of ,london ,end sounds  

like the other end of nowhere1 or 7what 
is worse7 of everywhere4  ,it suggests a
 sort of derisive riddle2 where does    
,london ,end8  ,as ,i  came up through  
the vast vague suburbs1 it was this     
sense of ,london  as a shapeless and    
endless muddle that chiefly filled my   
mind4  ,i seemed still to carry the     
cloud with me2 and when ,i looked up1   
,i almost expected to see the           
chimney-pots as tangled as the trees4   
,and in truth if there was now no       
material fog1 there was any amount  of  
mental and moral fog4  ,the whole       
industrial world symbolised  by ,london 
had reached a curious complication and  
confusion1  not easy to parallel in     
human history4  ,it is not a question   
of controversies1 but rather of         
cross-purposes4 ,as ,i went  by ,charing
 ,cross my eye caught a poster about    
,labour politics1  with something about 
the threat of ,direct ,action and a     
demand  for ,nationalisation4  ,and     
quite apart from the merits of the case1

  it struck me that after all the direct
 action is very indirect1  and the thing
 demanded is many steps away from the   
thing desired4  ,it is all part of a    
sort of tangle1 in which terms and      
things cut  across each other4  ,the    
employers talk about private enterprise1
  as if there were anything private     
about modern enterprise4  ,its combines 
are as big as many commonwealths2 and   
things advertised  in large letters on  
the sky cannot plead the shy privileges 
of privacy4  ,meanwhile the ,labour men 
talk about the need to nationalise the  
mines  or the land1 as if it were not   
the great difficulty in a plutocracy  to
 nationalise the ,government1 or even to
 nationalise the nation4  ,the          
,capitalists praise competition while   
they create monopoly2  the ,socialists  
urge a strike to turn workmen into      
soldiers and  state officials2 which is 
logically a strike against strikes4  ,i 
merely mention it as an example of the  
bewildering inconsistency1  and for no  

controversial purpose4  ,my own         
sympathies are  with the ,socialists2 in
 so far that there is something to be   
said for ,socialism1 and nothing to be  
said for ,capitalism4  ,but the point is
 that when there is something to be said
 for one thing1  it is now commonly said
 in support of the opposite thing4      
,never since the mob called out1 ,less  
bread6  ,more taxes6  in the nonsense   
story1 has there been so truly          
nonsensical  a situation as that in     
which the strikers demand ,government   
control and the ,government denounces   
its own control as anarchy4  ,the mob   
howls before the palace gates1 ,hateful 
tyrant1 we demand that you  assume more 
despotic powers2 and the tyrant thunders
 from the balcony1  ,vile rebels1 do you
 dare to suggest that my powers should  
be extended8  ,there seems to be a      
little misunderstanding somewhere4      
,in truth everything ,i saw told me that
 there was a large  misunderstanding    
everywhere2 a misunderstanding amounting

 to a mess4  ,and as this was the last  
impression that ,london left on me1 so  
it  was the impression ,i carried with  
me about the whole modern problem  of   
,western civilisation1 as a riddle to be
 read or a knot to be untied4  ,to untie
 it it is necessary to get hold of the  
right end of it1  and especially the    
other end of it4  ,we must begin at the 
beginning2  we must return to our first 
origins in history1 as we must return   
to our first principles in philosophy4  
,we must consider how we  came to be    
doing what we do1 and even saying what  
we say4  ,as it is1 the very terms we   
use are either meaningless or something 
more than meaningless1 inconsistent even
 with themselves4  ,this applies1 for   
instance1 to the talk of both sides  in 
that ,labour controversy1 which ,i      
merely took in passing1  because it was 
the current controversy in ,london when 
,i left4  ,the ,capitalists say         
,bolshevism as one might say ,boojum4   
,it is merely a mystical and imaginative

 word suggesting horror4  ,but it might 
mean many things2 including some just   
and rational things4  ,on the other     
hand1 there could never be any meaning  
at  all in the phrase the dictatorship  
of the proletariat4  ,it is like saying1
 the omnipotence of omnibus-conductors4 
,it is fairly obvious that if an        
omnibus-conductor were omnipotent1  he  
would probably prefer to conduct        
something else besides an omnibus4      
,whatever its exponents mean1 it is     
clearly something different  from what  
they say2 and even this verbal          
inconsistency1 this mere  welter of     
words1 is a sign of the common confusion
 of thought4  ,it is this sort of thing 
that made ,london seem like a limbo  of 
lost words1 and possibly of lost wits4  
,and it is here we find  the value of   
what ,i have called walking backwards   
through history4    ,it is one of the   
rare merits of modern mechanical travel 
that it  enables us to compare widely   
different cities in rapid succession4   

,the stages of my own progress were the 
chief cities of  separate countries2 and
 though more is lost in missing the     
countries1  something is gained in so   
sharply contrasting the capitals4  ,and 
again it was one of the advantages of my
 own progress that it  was a progress   
backwards2 that it happened1 as ,i have 
said1  to retrace the course of history 
to older and older things2  to ,paris   
and to ,rome and to ,egypt1 and almost1 
as it were1 to ,eden4  ,and finally it  
is one of the advantages of such a      
return that it  did really begin to     
clarify the confusion of names and      
notions  in modern society4  ,i first   
became conscious of this when ,i  went  
out of the ,gare de ,lyon and walked    
along a row of cafes1  until ,i saw     
again a distant column crowned with a   
dancing figure2  the freedom that danced
 over the fall of the ,bastille4  ,here 
at least1 ,i thought1 is an origin and a
 standard1  such as ,i missed in the    
mere muddle of industrial opportunism4  

,the modern industrial world is not in  
the least democratic2 but it is         
supposed to be democratic1 or supposed  
to be trying to be democratic4  ,the    
ninth century1 the time of the ,norse   
invasions1 was not saintly  in the sense
 of being filled with saints2 it was    
filled with pirates  and petty tyrants1 
and the first feudal anarchy4  ,but     
sanctity  was the only ideal those      
barbarians had1 when they had any at    
all4  ,and democracy is the only ideal  
the industrial millions have1  when they
 have any at all4  ,sanctity was the    
light of the ,dark ,ages1  or if you    
will the dream of the ,dark ,ages4  ,and
 democracy is the dream  of the dark age
 of industrialism2 if it be very much of
 a dream4  ,it is this which prophets   
promise to achieve1 and politicians     
pretend  to achieve1 and poets sometimes
 desire to achieve1 and sometimes  only 
desire to desire4  ,in a word1 an equal 
citizenship is quite  the reverse of the
 reality in the modern world2 but it is 

still  the ideal in the modern world4   
,at any rate it has no other ideal4  ,if
 the figure that has alighted on the    
column in the ,place de la  ,bastille be
 indeed the spirit of liberty1 it must  
see a million growths  in a modern city 
to make it wish to fly back again into  
heaven4  ,but our secular society would 
not know what goddess to put on  the    
pillar in its place4    ,as ,i looked at
 that sculptured goddess on that        
classical column1  my mind went back    
another historic stage1 and ,i asked    
myself  where this classic and          
republican ideal came from1 and the     
answer  was equally clear4  ,the place  
from which it had come was the place  to
 which ,i was going2 ,rome4  ,and it was
 not until ,i had reached ,rome  that ,i
 adequately realised the next great     
reality that simplified  the whole      
story1 and even this particular part of 
the story4  ,i know nothing more        
abruptly arresting than that sudden     
steepness1  as of streets scaling the   

sky1 where stands1 now cased in tile and
 brick  and stone1 that small rock that 
rose and overshadowed the whole earth2  
the ,capitol4  ,here in the grey dawn of
 our history sat the strong  ,republic  
that set her foot upon the necks of     
kings2 and it was from  here assuredly  
that the spirit of the ,republic flew   
like an eagle  to alight on that far-off
 pillar in the country of the ,gauls4   
,for it ought to be remembered 7and it  
is too often forgotten7  that if ,paris 
inherited what may be called the        
authority of ,rome1  it is equally true 
that ,rome anticipated all that is      
sometimes  called the anarchy of ,paris4
  ,the expansion of the ,roman ,empire  
was accompanied by a sort of permanent  
,roman ,revolution1 fully as  furious as
 the ,french ,revolution4  ,so long as  
the ,roman system was  really strong1 it
 was full of riots and mobs and         
democratic divisions2  and any number of
 ,bastilles fell as the temple of the   
victories rose4  ,but though ,i had but 

a hurried glance at such things1 there  
were  among them some that further aided
 the solution of the problem4  ,i saw   
the larger achievements of the later    
,romans2 and the lesson  that was still 
lacking was plainly there4  ,i saw the  
,coliseum1  a monument of that love of  
looking on at athletic sports1  which is
 noted as a sign of decadence in the    
,roman ,empire and  of energy in the    
,british ,empire4  ,i saw the ,baths of 
,caracalla1  witnessing to a cult of    
cleanliness1 adduced also to prove the  
luxury  of ,ancient ,romans and the     
simplicity of ,anglo-,saxons4 ,all it   
really proves either way is a love of   
washing on a large scale2  which might  
merely indicate that ,caracalla1 like   
other ,emperors1  was a lunatic4  ,but  
indeed what such things do indicate1  if
 only indirectly1 is something which is 
here much more important4  ,they        
indicate not only a sincerity in the    
public spirit1  but a certain smoothness
 in the public services4  ,in a word1   

while there were many revolutions1 there
 were no strikes4  ,the citizens were   
often rebels2 but there were men who    
were not rebels1  because they were not 
citizens4  ,the ancient world forced a  
number  of people to do the work of the 
world first1 before it allowed  more    
privileged people to fight about the    
government of the world4  ,the truth is 
trite enough1 of course2 it is in the   
single word ,slavery1  which is not the 
name of a crime like ,simony1 but rather
 of a scheme  like ,socialism4          
,sometimes very like ,socialism4        
,only standing idly on one of those     
grassy mounds under one of  those broken
 arches1 ,i suddenly saw the ,labour    
problem of ,london1  as ,i could not see
 it in ,london4  ,i do not mean that ,i 
saw which side  was right1 or what      
solution was reliable1 or any partisan  
points  or repartees1 or any practical  
details about practical difficulties4   
,i mean that ,i saw what it was2 the    
thing itself and the whole thing4  ,the 

,labour problem of to-day stood up quite
 simply1 like a  peak at which a man    
looks back and sees single and solid1   
though when he was walking over it it   
was a wilderness of rocks4  ,the ,labour
 problem is the attempt to have the     
democracy of ,paris  without the slavery
 of ,rome4  ,between the ,roman         
,republic and the  ,french ,republic    
something had happened4  ,whatever else 
it was1 it was  the abandonment of the  
ancient and fundamental human habit of  
slavery2  the numbering of men for      
necessary labour as the normal          
foundation  of society1 even a society  
in which citizens were free and equal4  
,when the idea of equal citizenship     
returned to the world1 it found  that   
world changed by a much more mysterious 
version of equality4  ,so that ,london1 
handing on the lamp from ,paris as well 
as ,rome1  is faced with a new problem  
touching the old practice of getting    
the work of the world done somehow4  ,we
 have now to assume not  only that all  

citizens are equal1 but that all men are
 citizens4  ,capitalism attempted it by 
combining political equality with       
economic inequality2 it assumed the rich
 could always hire the poor4  ,but      
,capitalism seems to me to have         
collapsed2 to be not only  a discredited
 ethic but a bankrupt business4         
,whether we shall  return to pagan      
slavery1 or to small property1 or by    
guilds  or otherwise get to work in a   
new way1 is not the question here4  ,the
 question here was the one ,i asked     
myself standing on that green  mound    
beside the yellow river2 and the answer 
to it lay ahead of me1  along the road  
that ran towards the rising sun4        
,what made the difference8  ,what was it
 that had happened  between the rise of 
the ,roman ,republic and the rise of the
  ,french ,republic8  ,why did the equal
 citizens of the first take it  for     
granted that there would be slaves8     
,why did the equal citizens  of the     
second take it for granted that there   

would not be slaves8  ,how had this     
immemorial institution disappeared in   
the interval1  so that nobody even      
dreamed of it or suggested it8  ,how was
 it that  when equality returned1 it was
 no longer the equality of citizens1    
and had to be the equality of men8  ,the
 answer is that this equality  of men is
 in more senses than one a mystery4  ,it
 is a mystery which ,i  pondered as ,i  
stood in the corridor of the train going
 south from ,rome4  ,it was at daybreak1
 and 7as it happened7 before any one    
else  had risen1 that ,i looked out of  
the long row of windows across  a great 
landscape grey with olives and still    
dark against the dawn4  ,the dawn itself
 looked rather like a row of wonderful  
windows2  a line of low casements       
unshuttered and shining under the eaves 
of cloud4  ,there was a curious clarity 
about the sunrise2  as if its sun might 
be made of glass rather than gold4  ,it 
was the first time ,i had seen so       
closely and covering such  a landscape  

the grey convolutions and hoary foliage 
of the olive2  and all those twisted    
trees went by like a dance of dragons in
 a dream4  ,the rocking railway-train   
and the vanishing railway-line seemed to
 be  going due east1 as if disappearing 
into the sun2 and save for the noise  of
 the train there was no sound in all    
that grey and silver solitude2  not even
 the sound of a bird4  ,yet the         
plantations were mostly marked  out in  
private plots and bore every trace of   
the care of private owners4  ,it is     
seldom1 ,i confess1 that ,i so catch the
 world asleep1  nor do ,i know why my   
answer should have come to me thus when 
,i was  myself only half-awake4 ,it is  
common in such a case to see some new   
signal or landmark2 but in my experience
 it is rather the things  already grown 
familiar that suddenly grow strange and 
significant4  ,a million olives must    
have flashed by before ,i saw the first 
olive2  the first1 so to speak1 which   
really waved the olive branch4  ,for ,i 

remembered at last to what land ,i was  
going2 and ,i knew the name  of the     
magic which had made all those peasants 
out of pagan slaves1  and has presented 
to the modern world a new problem of    
labour  and liberty4  ,it was as if ,i  
already saw against the clouds  of      
daybreak that mountain which takes its  
title from the olive3  and standing half
 visible upon it1 a figure at which ,i  
did not look4  ,ex oriente lux2 and ,i  
knew what dawn had broken over the ruins
 of ,rome4    ,i have taken but this one
 text or label1 out of a hundred such1  
the matter of labour and liberty2 and   
thought it worth  while to trace it from
 one blatant and bewildering yellow     
poster in the ,london streets to its    
high places in history4  ,but it is only
 one example of the way in which a      
thousand things  grouped themselves and 
fell into perspective as ,i passed      
farther and  farther from them1 and drew
 near the central origins of            
civilisation4  ,i do not say that ,i saw

 the solution2 but ,i saw the problem4  
,in the litter of journalism and the    
chatter of politics1 it is too  much of 
a puzzle even to be a problem4  ,for    
instance1 a friend  of mine described   
his book1 ,the ,path to ,rome1 as a     
journey through  all ,europe that the   
,faith had saved2 and ,i might very well
 describe  my own journey as one through
 all ,europe that the ,war has saved4   
,the trail of the actual fighting1 of   
course1 was awfully  apparent           
everywhere2 the plantations of pale     
crosses seemed to crop  up on every side
 like growing things2 and the first     
,french villages  through which ,i      
passed had heard in the distance1 day   
and night1  the guns of the long        
battle-line1 like the breaking of an    
endless  exterior sea of night upon the 
very borderland of the world4  ,i felt  
it most as we passed the noble towers of
 ,amiens1 so near  the high-water mark  
of the high tide of barbarism1 in that  
night  of terror just before the turning

 of the tide4  ,for the truth which     
thus grew clearer with travel is rightly
 represented by the metaphor  of the    
artillery1 as the thunder and surf of a 
sea beyond the world4  ,whatever else   
the war was1 it was like the resistance 
of something  as solid as land1 and     
sometimes as patient and inert as land1 
against something as unstable as water1 
as weak as water2 but also as  strong as
 water1 as strong as water is in a      
cataract or a flood4  ,it was the       
resistance of form to formlessness2 that
 version or  vision of it seemed to     
clarify itself more and more as ,i went 
on4  ,it was the defence of that same   
ancient enclosure in which stood  the   
broken columns of the ,roman forum and  
the column in the  ,paris square1 and of
 all other such enclosures down to the  
domestic  enclosures of my own dog and  
donkey4  ,all had the same design1  the 
marking out of a square for the         
experiment of liberty2  of the old civic
 liberty or the later universal liberty4

  ,i knew1 to take the domestic         
metaphor1 that the watchdog of the ,west
  had again proved too strong for the   
wild dogs of the ,orient4  ,for the foes
 of such creative limits are chaos and  
old night1 whether they  are the        
,northern barbarism that pitted tribal  
pride and brutal drill  against the     
civic ideal of ,paris1 or the ,eastern  
barbarism that brought  brigands out of 
the wilds of ,asia to sit on the throne 
of ,byzantium4  ,and as in the other    
case1 what ,i saw was something simpler 
and  larger than all the disputed       
details about the war and the peace4  ,a
 man may think it extraordinary1 as ,i  
do1 that the natural dissolution  of the
 artificial ,german ,empire into smaller
 states should have  actually been      
prevented by its enemies1 when it was   
already accepted  in despair by its     
friends4  ,for we are now trying hard to
 hold  the ,prussian system together1   
having hammered hard for four mortal    
years to burst it asunder4  ,or he may  

think exactly the opposite2  it makes no
 difference to the larger fact ,i have  
in mind4  ,a man may think it simply    
topsy-turvy1 as ,i do1 that we should   
clear the ,turks out of ,turkey1 but    
leave them in ,constantinople4  ,for    
that is driving the barbarians from     
their own rude tillage  and pasturage1  
and giving up to them our own ,european 
and ,christian city2  it is as if the   
,romans annexed ,parthia but surrendered
 ,rome4  ,but he may think exactly the  
opposite2 and the larger and simpler    
truth will still be there4  ,it was that
 the weeds and wild  things had been    
everywhere breaking into our boundaries1
  climbing over the northern wall or    
crawling through the eastern gate1  so  
that the city would soon have been      
swallowed in the jungle4  ,and whether  
the lines had been redrawn logically or 
loosely1  or particular things cleared  
with consistency or caprice1 a line  has
 been drawn somewhere and a clearance   
has been made somehow4  ,the ancient    

plan of our city has been saved2 a city 
at least  capable of containing         
citizens4  ,i felt this in the chance   
relics  of the war itself2 ,i felt it   
twenty times more in those older relics 
which even the war had never touched at 
all2 ,i felt the change  as much in the 
changeless ,east as in the ever-changing
 ,west4  ,i felt it when ,i crossed     
another great square in ,paris to look  
at a certain statue1 which ,i had last  
seen hung with crape  and such garlands 
as we give the dead2 but on whose plain 
pedestal nothing now is left but the    
single word ,strasbourg4  ,i felt it    
when ,i saw words merely scribbled with 
a pencil on a wall  in a poor street in 
,brindisi2 ,italia vittoriosa4  ,but ,i 
felt it  as much or even more in things 
infinitely more ancient and remote2  in 
those monuments like mountains that     
still seem to look down  upon all modern
 things4  ,for these things were more   
than a trophy  that had been raised1    
they were a palladium that had been     

rescued4  ,these were the things that   
had again been saved from chaos1  as    
they were saved at ,salamis and         
,lepanto2 and ,i knew what had  saved   
them or at least in what formation they 
had been saved4  ,i knew that these     
scattered splendours of antiquity would 
hardly  have descended to us at all1 to 
be endangered or delivered1  if all that
 pagan world had not crystallised into  
,christendom4    ,crossing seas as      
smooth as pavements inlaid with         
turquoise  and lapis lazuli1 and        
relieved with marble mountains as clear 
and famous as marble statues1 it was    
easy to feel all that had  been pure and
 radiant even in the long evening of    
paganism2  but that did not make me     
forget what strong stars had comforted  
the inevitable night4  ,the historical  
moral was the same whether  these marble
 outlines were merely the isles seen    
afar off like  sunset clouds by the     
,hebrew prophets1 or were felt indeed as
 ,hellas1  the great archipelago of arts

 and arms praised by the ,greek poets2  
the historic heritage of both descended 
only to the ,greek ,fathers4  ,in those 
wild times and places1 the thing that   
preserved both was  the only thing that 
would have permanently preserved either4
  ,it was but part of the same story    
when we passed the hoary  hills that    
held the primeval culture of ,crete1 and
 remembered  that it may well have been 
the first home of the ,philistines4  ,it
 mattered the less by now whether the   
pagans were best  represented by        
,poseidon the deity or by ,dagon the    
demon4  ,it mattered the less what gods 
had blessed the ,greeks in their youth  
and liberty2 for ,i knew what god had   
blessed them in their despair4  ,i knew 
by what sign they had survived the long 
slavery under  ,ottoman orientalism2 and
 upon what name they had called in the  
darkness1  when there was no light but  
the horned moon of ,mahound4  ,if the   
glory of ,greece has survived in some   
sense1 ,i knew why it  had ever survived

 in any sense4  ,nor did this feeling of
 our fixed  formation fail me when ,i   
came to the very gates of ,asia and of  
,africa2  when there rose out of the    
same blue seas the great harbour of     
,alexandria2  where had shone the       
,pharos like the star of ,hellas1 and   
where men  had heard from the lips of   
,hypatia the last words of ,plato4  ,i  
know the ,christians tore ,hypatia in   
pieces2 but they did not tear  ,plato in
 pieces4  ,the wild men that rode behind
 ,omar the ,arab would  have thought    
nothing of tearing every page of ,plato 
in pieces4  ,for it is the nature of all
 this outer nomadic anarchy that it is  
capable sooner or later of tearing      
anything and everything in pieces2  it  
has no instinct of preservation or of   
the permanent needs of men4  ,where it  
has passed the ruins remain ruins and   
are not renewed2  where it has been     
resisted and rolled back1 the links of  
our long  history are never lost4  ,as  
,i went forward the vision of our  own  

civilisation1 in the form in which it   
finally found unity1  grew clearer and  
clearer2 nor did ,i ever know it more   
certainly  than when ,i had left it     
behind4    ,for the vision was that of a
 shape appearing and reappearing among  
shapeless things2 and it was a shape ,i 
knew4  ,the imagination was forced  to  
rise into altitudes infinitely ancient  
and dizzy with distance1  as if into the
 cold colours of primeval dawns1 or into
 the upper  strata and dead spaces of a 
daylight older than the sun and moon4   
,but the character of that central      
clearance still became clearer  and     
clearer4  ,and my memory turned again   
homewards2 and ,i thought it  was like  
the vision of a man flying from         
,northolt1 over that little             
market-place beside my own door2 who can
 see nothing below him  but a waste as  
of grey forests1 and the pale pattern of
 a cross4        ,,chapter ,,ii    ,,the
 ,,way ,,of ,,the ,,desert    ,it may   
truly be said1 touching the type of     

culture at least1  that ,egypt has an   
,egyptian lower class1 a ,french middle 
class and an  ,english governing class4 
,anyhow it is true that the             
civilisations  are stratified in this   
formation1 or superimposed in this      
order4  ,it is the first impression     
produced by the darkness and density  of
 the bazaars1 the line of the lighted   
cafes and the blaze  of the big hotels4 
,but it contains a much deeper truth in 
all  three cases1 and especially in the 
case of the ,french influence4  ,it is  
indeed one of the first examples of what
 ,i mean by the divisions  of the ,west 
becoming clearer in the ancient centres 
of the ,east4  ,it is often said that we
 can only appreciate the work of        
,england in a  place like ,india4  ,in  
so far as this is true1 it is quite     
equally true  that we can only          
appreciate the work of ,france in a     
place like ,egypt4  ,but this work is of
 a peculiar and even paradoxical kind4  
,it is too practical to be prominent1   

and so universal that  it is unnoticed4 
,the ,french view of the ,rights of ,man
 is called visionary2  but in practice  
it is very solid and even prosaic4  ,the
 ,french have a unique and successful   
trick by which ,french  things are not  
accepted as ,french4  ,they are accepted
 as human4  ,however many foreigners    
played football1 they would still       
consider  football an ,english thing4   
,but they do not consider fencing  a    
,french thing1 though all the terms of  
it are still ,french4  ,if a ,frenchman 
were to label his hostelry an inn or a  
public house  7probably written         
publicouse7 we should think him a victim
 of rather  advanced ,anglomania4  ,but 
when an ,englishman calls it an hotel1  
we feel no special dread of him either  
as a dangerous foreigner  or a dangerous
 lunatic4  ,we need not recognise less  
readily  the value of this because our  
own distinction is different2           
especially as our own distinction is    
being more distinguished4  ,the spirit  

of the ,english is adventure2 and it is 
the essence of adventure  that the      
adventurer does remain different from   
the strange tribes  or strange cities1  
which he studies because of their       
strangeness4  ,he does not become like  
them1 as did some of the ,germans1  or  
persuade them to become like him1 as do 
most of the ,french4  ,but whether we   
like or dislike this ,french capacity1  
or merely  appreciate it properly in its
 place1 there can be no doubt  about the
 cause of that capacity4  ,the cause is 
in the spirit  that is so often regarded
 as wildly ,utopian and unreal4  ,the   
cause is in the abstract creed of       
equality and citizenship2  in the       
possession of a political philosophy    
that appeals to all men4  ,in truth men 
have never looked low enough for the    
success  of the ,french ,revolution4    
,they have assumed that it claims  to be
 a sort of divine and distant thing1 and
 therefore have  not noticed it in the  
nearest and most materialistic things4  

,they have watched its wavering in the  
senate and never seen it  walking in the
 streets2 though it can be seen in the  
streets of ,cairo  as in the streets of 
,paris4    ,in ,cairo a man thinks it   
,english to go into a tea-shop2  but he 
does not think it ,french to go into a  
cafe4 ,and the people  who go to the    
tea-shop1 the ,english officers and     
officials1  are stamped as ,english and 
also stamped as official4  ,they are    
generally genial1 they are generally    
generous1 but they  have the detachment 
of a governing group and even a         
garrison4  ,they cannot be mistaken for 
human beings4  ,the people going to a   
cafe  are simply human beings going to  
it because it is a human place4  ,they  
have forgotten how much is ,french and  
how much ,egyptian  in their            
civilisation2 they simply think of it as
 civilisation4  ,now this character of  
the older ,french culture must be       
grasped because  it is the clue to many 
things in the mystery of the modern     

,east4  ,i call it an old culture       
because as a matter of fact it runs back
  to the ,roman culture4  ,in this      
respect the ,gauls really continue  the 
work of the ,romans1 in making something
 official which comes  at last to be    
regarded as ordinary4  ,and the great   
fundamental fact  which is incessantly  
forgotten and ought to be incessantly   
remembered1  about these cities and     
provinces of the near ,east1 is that    
they  were once as ,roman as ,gaul4     
,there is a frivolous and fanciful      
debate ,i have often had with a friend1 
about whether it is better to find one's
 way or to lose it1 to remember  the    
road or to forget it4  ,i am so         
constituted as to be capable  of losing 
my way in my own village and almost in  
my own house4  ,and ,i am prepared to   
maintain the privilege to be a poetic   
one4  ,in truth ,i am prepared to       
maintain that both attitudes are        
valuable1  and should exist side by     
side4  ,and so my friend and ,i walk    

side by side  along the ways of the     
world1 he being full of a rich and      
humane sentiment1  because he remembers 
passing that way a few hundred times    
since  his childhood2 while to me       
existence is a perpetual fairy-tale1    
because ,i have forgotten all about it4 
,the lamp-post which moves  him to a    
tear of reminiscence wrings from me a   
cry of astonishment2  and the wall which
 to him is as historic as a pyramid is  
to me  as arresting and revolutionary as
 a barricade4  ,now in this1  ,i am glad
 to say1 my temperament is very         
,english2 and the difference  is very   
typical of the two functions of the     
,english and the ,french4  ,but in      
practical politics the ,french have a   
certain advantage in knowing  where they
 are1 and knowing it is where they have 
been before4  ,it is in the ,roman      
,empire4    ,the position of the        
,english in ,egypt or even in ,palestine
 is something  of a paradox4  ,the real 
,english claim is never heard in        

,england and never  uttered by          
,englishmen4  ,we do indeed hear a      
number of false ,english  claims1 and   
other ,english claims that are rather   
irrelevant than false4  ,we hear pompous
 and hypocritical suggestions1 full of  
that which so  often accompanies the sin
 of pride1 the weakness of              
provinciality4  ,we hear suggestions    
that the ,english alone can establish   
anywhere  a reign of law1 justice1      
mercy1 purity and all the rest of it4   
,we also hear franker and fairer        
suggestions that the ,english  have     
after all 7as indeed they have7 embarked
 on a spirited  and stirring adventure2 
and that there has been a real romance  
in the extending of the ,british ,empire
 in strange lands4  ,but the real case  
for these semi-eastern occupations is   
not  that of extending the ,british     
,empire in strange lands4  ,rather it is
 restoring the ,roman ,empire in        
familiar lands4  ,it is not merely      
breaking out of ,europe in the search   

for something non-,european4 ,it would  
be much truer to call  it putting       
,europe together again after it had been
 broken4  ,it may almost be said of the 
,britons1 considered as the most        
western of ,europeans1 that they have so
 completely forgotten  their own history
 that they have forgotten even their own
 rights4  ,at any rate they have        
forgotten the claims that could         
reasonably be  made for them1 but which 
they never think of making for          
themselves4  ,they have not the faintest
 notion1 for instance1 of why hundreds  
of years  ago an ,english saint was     
taken from ,egypt1 or why an ,english   
king  was fighting in ,palestine4  ,they
 merely have a vague idea that ,george  
of ,cappadocia was naturalised much in  
the same way as ,george of ,hanover4    
,they almost certainly suppose that     
,coeur de ,lion in his wanderings       
happened to meet the ,king of ,egypt1 as
 ,captain ,cook might happen  to meet   
the ,king of the ,cannibal ,islands4    

,to understand the past  connection of  
,england with the near ,east1 it is     
necessary to understand  something that 
lies behind ,europe and even behind the 
,roman ,empire2  something that can only
 be conveyed by the name of the         
,mediterranean4  ,when people talk1 for 
instance1 as if the ,crusades were      
nothing  more than an aggressive raid   
against ,islam1 they seem to forget  in 
the strangest way that ,islam itself was
 only an aggressive  raid against the   
old and ordered civilisation in these   
parts4  ,i do not say it in mere        
hostility to the religion of ,mahomet2  
as will be  apparent later1 ,i am fully 
conscious of many values and virtues in 
it2  but certainly it was ,islam that   
was the invasion and ,christendom  that 
was the thing invaded4  ,an ,arabian    
gentleman found riding  on the road to  
,paris or hammering on the gates of     
,vienna can hardly  complain that we    
have sought him out in his simple tent  
in the desert4  ,the conqueror of       

,sicily and ,spain cannot reasonably    
express surprise at  being an object of 
morbid curiosity to the people of ,italy
 and ,france4  ,in the city of ,cairo   
the stranger feels many of the ,moslem  
merits1  but he certainly feels the     
militaristic character of the ,moslem   
glories4  ,the crown of the city is the 
citadel1 built by the great ,saladin    
but of the spoils of ancient ,egyptian  
architecture2 and that fact  is in its  
turn very symbolical4  ,the man was a   
great conqueror1  but he certainly      
behaved like an invader2 he spoiled the 
,egyptians4  ,he broke the old temples  
and tombs and built his own out of      
fragments4  ,nor is this the only       
respect in which the citadel of ,cairo  
is set  high like a sign in heaven4     
,the sign is also significant because   
from this superb height the traveller   
first beholds the desert1  out of which 
the great conquest came4    ,every one  
has heard the great story of the ,greeks
 who cried aloud  in triumph when they  

saw the sea afar off2 but it is a       
stranger  experience to see the earth   
afar off4  ,and few of us1 strictly     
speaking1  have ever seen the earth at  
all4  ,in cultivated countries it  is   
always clad1 as it were1 in green       
garments4  ,the first sight  of the     
desert is like the sight of a naked     
giant in the distance4  ,the image is   
all the more natural because of the     
particular formation  which it takes1 at
 least as it borders upon the fields of 
,egypt1  and as it is seen from the high
 places of ,cairo4  ,those who have seen
  the desert only in pictures generally 
think of it as entirely flat4  ,but this
 edge of it at least stands up on the   
horizon1 as a line  of wrinkled and     
hollow hills like the scalps of bald    
men2 or worse1  of bald women4  ,for it 
is impossible not to think of such      
repulsive  images1 in spite of real     
sublimity of the call to the            
imagination4  ,there is something       
curiously hostile and inhuman about the 

first  appearance of the motionless     
surges of that dry and dreadful sea4    
,afterwards1 if the traveller has       
happened to linger here and there  in   
the outposts of the desert1 has seen the
 ,british camp at ,kantara  or the      
graceful ,french garden town of         
,ismalia1 he comes to take  the desert  
as a background1 and sometimes a        
beautiful background2  a mirror of      
mighty reflections and changing colours 
almost as strange  as the colours of the
 sea4  ,but when it is first seen       
abutting1  and as it were1 advancing1   
upon the fields and gardens of humanity1
  then it looks indeed like an enemy1 or
 a long line of enemies2  like a line of
 tawny wild beasts thus halted with     
their heads lifted4  ,it is the feeling 
that such vain and sterile sand can yet 
make  itself into something like a      
mountain range2 and the traveller       
remembers all the tragedies of the      
desert1 when he lifts up his eyes  to   
those accursed hills1 from whence no    

help can come4    ,but this is only a   
first glimpse from a city set among     
green fields2  and is concerned rather  
with what the desert has been in its    
relation  to men than with what the     
desert is in itself4  ,when the mind has
  grown used to its monotony1 a curious 
change takes place which ,i  have never 
seen noted or explained by the students 
of mental science4  ,it may sound       
strange to say that monotony of its     
nature becomes novelty4  ,but if any one
 will try the common experiment of      
saying some ordinary  word such as moon 
or man about fifty times1 he will find  
that the expression has become          
extraordinary by sheer repetition4  ,a  
man has become a strange animal with a  
name as queer as that of the gnu2  and  
the moon something monstrous like the   
moon-calf4 ,something  of this magic of 
monotony is effected by the monotony of 
deserts2  and the traveller feels as if 
he had entered into a secret1  and was  
looking at everything from another side4

  ,something of this  simplification    
appears1 ,i think1 in the religions of  
the desert1  especially in the religion 
of ,islam4  ,it explains something of   
the  super-human hopes that fill the    
desert prophets concerning the future2  
it explains something also about their  
barbarous indifference  to the past4    
,we think of the desert and its stones  
as old2 but in one sense  they are      
unnaturally new4  ,they are unused1 and 
perhaps unusable4  ,they might be the   
raw material of a world2 only they are  
so raw  as to be rejected4  ,it is not  
easy to define this quality of          
something primitive1 something not      
mature enough to be fruitful4  ,indeed  
there is a hard simplicity about many   
,eastern things that is  as much crude  
as archaic4  ,a palm-tree is very like a
 tree drawn  by a child--or by a very   
futurist artist4  ,even a pyramid is    
like  a mathematical figure drawn by a  
schoolmaster teaching children2  and its
 very impressiveness is that of an      

ultimate ,platonic abstraction4  ,there 
is something curiously simple about the 
shape in which  these colossal crystals 
of the ancient sands have been cast4    
,it is only when we have felt something 
of this element1  not only of           
simplicity1 but of crudity1 and even in 
a sense  of novelty1 that we can begin  
to understand both the immensity  and   
the insufficiency of that power that    
came out of the desert1  the great      
religion of ,mahomet4    ,in the red    
circle of the desert1 in the dark and   
secret place1  the prophet discovers the
 obvious things4  ,i do not say it      
merely as a sneer1 for obvious things   
are very easily forgotten2  and indeed  
every high civilisation decays by       
forgetting obvious things4  ,but it is  
true that in such a solitude men tend to
 take very simple  ideas as if they were
 entirely new ideas4  ,there is a love  
of  concentration which comes from the  
lack of comparison4  ,the lonely  man   
looking at the lonely palm-tree does see

 the elementary truths  about the       
palm-tree2 and the elementary truths are
 very essential4  ,thus he does see that
 though the palm-tree may be a very     
simple design1  it was not he who       
designed it4  ,it may look like a tree  
drawn  by a child1 but he is not the    
child who could draw it4  ,he has not   
command of that magic slate on which the
 pictures can come to life1  or of that 
magic green chalk of which the green    
lines can grow4  ,he sees at once that a
 power is at work in whose presence  he 
and the palm-tree are alike little      
children4  ,in other words1  he is      
intelligent enough to believe in ,god2  
and the ,moslem1  the man of the desert1
 is intelligent enough to believe in    
,god4  ,but his belief is lacking in    
that humane complexity that comes  from 
comparison4  ,the man looking at the    
palm-tree does realise  the simple fact 
that ,god made it2 while the man looking
 at  the lamp-post in a large modern    
city can be persuaded by a hundred      

sophistical circumlocutions that he made
 it himself4  ,but the man  in the      
desert cannot compare the palm-tree with
 the lamp-post1  or even with all the   
other trees which may be better worth   
looking  at than the lamp-post4 ,hence  
his religion1 though true as far  as it 
goes1 has not the variety and vitality  
of the churches  that were designed by  
men walking in the woods and orchards4  
,i speak here of the ,moslem type of    
religion and not of the oriental type   
of ornament1 which is much older than   
the ,moslem type of religion4  ,but even
 the oriental type of ornament1         
admirable as it often is1  is to the    
ornament of a gothic cathedral what a   
fossil forest is  to a forest full of   
birds4  ,in short1 the man of the desert
 tends  to simplify too much1 and to    
take his first truth for the last truth4
  ,and as it is with religion so it is  
with morality4  ,he who believes  in the
 existence of ,god believes in the      
equality of man4  ,and it has  been one 

of the merits of the ,moslem faith that 
it felt men as men1  and was not        
incapable of welcoming men of many      
different races4  ,but here again it was
 so hard and crude that its very        
equality was  like a desert rather than 
a field4  ,its very humanity was        
inhuman4    ,but though this human      
sentiment is rather rudimentary it is   
very real4  ,when a man in the desert   
meets another man1 he is really  a man2 
the proverbial two-legged fowl without  
feathers4  ,he is an absolute and       
elementary shape1 like the palm-tree  or
 the pyramid4  ,the discoverer does not 
pause to consider  through what         
gradations he may have been evolved from
 a camel4  ,when the man is a mere dot  
in the distance1 the other man does  not
 shout at him and ask whether he had a  
university education1  or whether he is 
quite sure he is purely ,teutonic and   
not ,celtic  or ,iberian4  ,a man is a  
man2 and a man is a very important      
thing4  ,one thing redeems the ,moslem  

morality which can be set over against  
a mountain of crimes2 a considerable    
deposit of common sense4  ,and the first
 fact of common sense is the common bond
 of men4  ,there is indeed in the       
,moslem character also a deep and most  
dangerous  potentiality of fanaticism of
 the menace of which something may be   
said later4  ,fanaticism sounds like the
 flat contrary of common sense2  yet    
curiously enough they are both sides of 
the same thing4  ,the fanatic of the    
desert is dangerous precisely because he
 does  take his faith as a fact1 and not
 even as a truth in our more            
transcendental sense4  ,when he does    
take up a mystical idea he takes  it as 
he takes the man or the palm-tree2 that 
is1 quite literally4  ,when he does     
distinguish somebody not as a man but as
 a ,moslem1  then he divides the ,moslem
 from the non-,moslem exactly as he     
divides  the man from the camel4  ,but  
even then he recognises the equality of 
men  in the sense of the equality of    

,moslems4  ,he does not1 for instance1  
complicate his conscience with any sham 
science about races4  ,in this he has   
something like an intellectual advantage
 over  the ,jew1 who is generally so    
much his intellectual superior2  and    
even in some ways his spiritual         
superior4  ,the ,jew has far more  moral
 imagination and sympathy with the      
subtler ideals of the soul4  ,for       
instance1 it is said that many ,jews    
disbelieve in a future life2  but if    
they did believe in a future life1 it   
would be something  more worthy of the  
genius of ,isaiah and ,spinoza4  ,the   
,moslem ,paradise  is a very ,earthly   
,paradise4  ,but with all their fine    
apprehensions1  the ,jews suffer from   
one heavy calamity2 that of being a     
,chosen ,race4  ,it is the vice of any  
patriotism or religion depending on race
  that the individual is himself the    
thing to be worshipped2  the individual 
is his own ideal1 and even his own idol4
  ,this fancy was fatal to the ,germans2

 it is fatal to the ,anglo-,saxons1     
whenever any of them forswear the       
glorious name of ,englishmen  and       
,americans to fall into that forlorn    
description4  ,this is not so when the  
nation is felt as a noble abstraction1  
of which the individual is proud in the 
abstract4  ,a ,frenchman is proud of    
,france1 and therefore may think himself
  unworthy of ,france4  ,but a ,german  
is proud of being a ,german2  and he    
cannot be too unworthy to be a ,german  
when he is a ,german4  ,in short1 mere  
family pride flatters every member of   
the family2  it produced the arrogance  
of the ,germans1 and it is capable of   
producing  a much subtler kind of       
arrogance in the ,jews4  ,from this     
particular  sort of self-deception the  
more savage man of the desert is free4  
,if he is not considering somebody as a 
,moslem1 he will consider  him as a man4
  ,at the price of something like       
barbarism1 he has  at least been saved  
from ethnology4    ,but here again the  

obvious is a limit as well as a light to
 him4  ,it does not permit1 for         
instance1 anything fine or subtle in    
the sentiment of sex4  ,islam asserts   
admirably the equality of men2  but it  
is the equality of males4  ,no one can  
deny that a noble  dignity is possible  
even to the poorest1 who has seen the   
,arabs  coming in from the desert to the
 cities of ,palestine or ,egypt4  ,no   
one can deny that men whose rags are    
dropping off their backs can  bear      
themselves in a way befitting kings or  
prophets in the great  stories of       
,scripture4  ,no one can be surprised   
that so many fine  artists have         
delighted to draw such models on the    
spot1 and to make  realistic studies for
 illustrations to the ,old and ,new     
,testaments4  ,on the road to ,cairo one
 may see twenty groups exactly like that
  of the ,holy ,family in the pictures  
of the ,flight into ,egypt2  with only  
one difference4  ,the man is riding on  
the ass4    ,in the ,east it is the male

 who is dignified and even ceremonial4  
,possibly that is why he wears skirts4  
,i pointed out long ago  that           
petticoats1 which some regard as a garb 
of humiliation for women  are really    
regarded as the only garb of            
magnificence for men1  when they wish to
 be something more than men4  ,they are 
worn by kings1  by priests1 and by      
judges4  ,the male ,moslem1 especially  
in his  own family1 is the king and the 
priest and the judge4  ,i do not mean   
merely that he is the master1 as many   
would say of the male in many  ,western 
societies1 especially simple and        
self-governing societies4  ,i mean      
something more2 ,i mean that he has not 
only the kingdom  and the power but the 
glory1 and even as it were the glamour4 
,i mean he has not only the rough       
leadership that we often give  to the   
man1 but the special sort of social     
beauty and stateliness  that we         
generally expect only of the woman4     
,what we mean when we  say that an      

ambitious man wants to have a fine woman
 at the head  of the dinner-table1 that 
the ,moslem world really means when it  
expects  to see a fine man at the head  
of the house4  ,even in the street  he  
is the peacock1 coloured much more      
splendidly than the peahen4  ,even when 
clad in comparatively sober and partly  
,european costume1  as outside the cafes
 of ,cairo and the great cities1 he     
exhibits  this indefinable character not
 merely of dignity but of pomp4  ,it can
 be traced even in the tarbouch1 the    
minimum of ,turkish  attire worn by all 
the commercial classes2 the thing more  
commonly  called in ,england a fez4     
,the fez is not a sort of smoking cap4  
,it is a tower of scarlet often tall    
enough to be the head-dress  of a       
priest4  ,and it is a hat one cannot    
take off to a lady4    ,this fact is    
familiar enough in talk about ,moslem   
and oriental  life generally2 but ,i    
only repeat it in order to refer it back
  to the same simplification which is   

the advantage and disadvantage  of the  
philosophy of the desert4  ,chivalry is 
not an obvious idea4  ,it is not as     
plain as a pike-staff or as a palm-tree4
 ,it is a delicate  balance between the 
sexes which gives the rarest and most   
poetic  kind of pleasure to those who   
can strike it4  ,but it is not          
self-evident to a savage merely because 
he is also a sane man4  ,it often seems 
to him as much a part of his own coarse 
common sense  that all the fame and fun 
should go to the sex that is stronger   
and less tied1 as that all the authority
 should go to the parents  rather than  
the children4  ,pity for weakness he can
 understand2  and the ,moslem is quite  
capable of giving royal alms to a       
cripple  or an orphan4  ,but reverence  
for weakness is to him simply           
meaningless4  ,it is a mystical idea    
that is to him no more than a mystery4  
,but the same is true touching what may 
be called the lighter side of  the more 
civilised sentiment4  ,this hard and    

literal view of life gives  no place for
 that slight element of a magnanimous   
sort of play-acting1  which has run     
through all our tales of true lovers in 
the ,west4  ,wherever there is chivalry 
there is courtesy2 and wherever there   
is courtesy there is comedy4  ,there is 
no comedy in the desert4    ,another    
quite logical and consistent element1 in
 the very logical  and consistent creed 
we call ,mahometanism1 is the element   
that we call ,vandalism4  ,since such   
few and obvious things alone  are vital1
 and since a half-artistic              
half-antiquarian affection  is not one  
of these things1 and cannot be called   
obvious1  it is largely left out4  ,it  
is very difficult to say in a few       
well-chosen words exactly what is now   
the use of the ,pyramids4  ,therefore   
,saladin1 the great ,saracen warrior1   
simply stripped  the ,pyramids to build 
a military fortress on the heights of   
,cairo4  ,it is a little difficult to   
define exactly what is a man's duty to  

the ,sphinx2 and therefore the          
,mamelukes used it entirely as a target4
  ,there was little in them of that     
double feeling1 full of pathos and      
irony1  which divided the hearts of the 
primitive ,christians in presence of    
the great pagan literature and art4     
,this is not concerned with brutal      
outbreaks of revenge which may be found 
on both sides1 or with chivalrous       
caprices of toleration1 which may also  
be found on both sides2  it is concerned
 with the inmost mentality of the two   
religions1  which must be understood in 
order to do justice to either4  ,the    
,moslem mind never tended to that       
mystical mode of loving yet leaving     
with which ,augustine cried aloud upon  
the ancient beauty1 or ,dante  said     
farewell to ,virgil when he left him in 
the limbo of the pagans4  ,the ,moslem  
traditions1 unlike the medieval legends1
 do not suggest  the image of a knight  
who kissed ,venus before he killed her4 
,we see in all the ,christian ages this 

combination which is not  a compromise1 
but rather a complexity made by two     
contrary enthusiasms2  as when the ,dark
 ,ages copied out the pagan poems while 
denying  the pagan legends2 or when the 
popes of the ,renascence  imitated the  
,greek temples while denying the ,greek 
gods4  ,this high inconsistency is      
inconsistent with ,islam4  ,islam1 as ,i
  have said1 takes everything literally1
 and does not know how to play  with    
anything4  ,and the cause of the        
contrast is the historical  cause of    
which we must be conscious in all       
studies of this kind4  ,the ,christian  
,church had from a very early date the  
idea of  reconstructing a whole         
civilisation1 and even a complex        
civilisation4  ,it was the attempt to   
make a new balance1 which differed from 
the old  balance of the stoics of ,rome2
 but which could not afford to lose  its
 balance any more than they4  ,it       
differed because the old system  was one
 of many religions under one government1

 while the new  was one of many         
governments under one religion4  ,but   
the idea  of variety in unity remained  
though it was in a sense reversed4  ,a  
historical instinct made the men of the 
new ,europe try hard  to find a place   
for everything in the system1 however   
much might  be denied to the individual4
  ,christians might lose everything1    
but ,christendom1 if possible1 must not 
lose anything4  ,the very  nature of    
,islam1 even at its best1 was quite     
different from this4  ,nobody supposed1 
even subconsciously1 that ,mahomet meant
 to restore  ancient ,babylon as        
medievalism vaguely sought to restore   
ancient ,rome4  ,nobody thought that the
 builders of the ,mosque of ,omar had   
looked  at the ,pyramids as the builders
 of ,st4 ,peter's might have looked  at 
the ,parthenon4  ,islam began at the    
beginning2 it was content with  the idea
 that it had a great truth2 as indeed it
 had a colossal truth4  ,it was so huge 
a truth that it was hard to see it was a

 half-truth4    ,islam was a movement2  
that is why it has ceased to move4  ,for
 a movement can only be a mood4  ,it may
 be a very necessary movement  arising  
from a very noble mood1 but sooner or   
later it must find its  level in a      
larger philosophy1 and be balanced      
against other things4  ,islam was a     
reaction towards simplicity2 it was a   
violent simplification1  which turned   
out to be an over-simplification4       
,stevenson has somewhere  one of his    
perfectly picked phrases for an         
empty-minded man2  that he has not one  
thought to rub against another while he 
waits  for a train4  ,the ,moslem had   
one thought1 and that a most vital one2 
the greatness of ,god which levels all  
men4  ,but the ,moslem had not one      
thought to rub against another1 because 
he really had not another4  ,it is the  
friction of two spiritual things1 of    
tradition and invention1  or of         
substance and symbol1 from which the    
mind takes fire4  ,the creeds condemned 

as complex have something like the      
secret of sex2  they can breed thoughts4
    ,an idealistic intellectual remarked
 recently that there were  a great many 
things in the creed for which he had no 
use4  ,he might just as well have said  
that there were a great many  things in 
the ,encyclopedia ,britannica for which 
he had no use4  ,it would probably have 
occurred to him that the work in        
question  was meant for humanity and not
 for him4  ,but even in the case  of the
 ,encyclopedia1 it will often be found a
 stimulating  exercise to read two      
articles on two widely different        
subjects  and note where they touch4    
,in fact there is really a great deal   
to be said for the man in ,pickwick who 
read first about ,china  and then about 
metaphysics and combined his            
information4  ,but however this may be  
in the famous case of ,chinese          
metaphysics1  it is this which is       
chiefly lacking in ,arabian metaphysics4
  ,they suffer1 as ,i have said of the  

palm-tree in the desert1  from a lack of
 the vitality that comes from           
complexity1  and of the complexity that 
comes from comparison4  ,they suffer    
from having been in a single movement in
 a single direction2  from having begun 
as a mood and ended rather as a mode1   
that is a mere custom or fashion4  ,but 
any modern ,christian thus  criticising 
the ,moslem movement will do well to    
criticise himself  and his world at the 
same time4  ,for in truth most modern   
things  are mere movements in the same  
sense as the ,moslem movement4  ,they   
are at best fashions1 in which one thing
 is exaggerated  because it has been    
neglected4  ,they are at worst mere     
monomanias1  in which everything is     
neglected that one thing may be         
exaggerated4  ,good or bad1 they are    
alike movements which in their nature   
can only  move for a certain distance   
and then stop4  ,feminism1 for instance1
  is in its nature a movement1 and one  
that must stop somewhere4  ,but the     

,suffragettes no more established a     
philosophy of the sexes  by their       
feminism than the ,arabs did by their   
anti-feminism4 ,a woman  can find her   
home on the hustings even less than in  
the harem2  but such movements do not   
really attempt to find a final home for 
anybody or anything4  ,bolshevism is a  
movement2 and in my opinion  a very     
natural and just movement considered as 
a revolt against  the crude cruelty of  
,capitalism4  ,but when we find the     
,bolshevists  making a rule that the    
drama must encourage the proletarian    
spirit1  it is obvious that those who   
say so are not only maniacs but1  what  
is more to the point here1 are          
monomaniacs4  ,imagine having  to apply 
that principle1 let us say1 to          
,charley's ,aunt4  ,none of these things
 seek to establish a complete philosophy
  such as ,aquinas founded on           
,aristotle4  ,the only two modern men   
who attempted it were ,comte and        
,herbert ,spencer4  ,spencer1 ,i think1 

was too small a man to do it at all2 and
 ,comte was a great enough  man to show 
how difficult it is to do it in modern  
times4  ,none of these movements can do 
anything but move2 they have not        
discovered where to rest4    ,and this  
fact brings us back to the man of the   
desert1 who moves  and does not rest2   
but who has many superiorities to the   
restless  races of the industrial city4 
,men who have been in the ,manchester   
movement in #ahfj and the ,fabian       
movement in #ahhj cannot sneer  at a    
religious mood that lasted for eight    
hundred years4  ,and those who tolerate 
the degraded homelessness of the slums  
cannot despise the much more dignified  
homelessness of the desert4             
,nevertheless1 the thing is a           
homelessness and not a home2 and there  
runs through it all the note of the     
nomad4  ,the ,moslem takes literally1   
as he takes everything1 the truth that  
here we have no abiding city4  ,he can  
see no meaning in the mysticism of      

materialism1  the sacramental idea that 
a ,french poet expressed so nobly1  when
 he said that our earthly city is the   
body of the city of ,god4  ,he has no   
true notion of building a house1 or in  
our ,western  sense of recognising the  
kindred points of heaven and home4      
,even the exception to this rule is an  
exception at once terrible  and         
touching4  ,there is one house that the 
,moslem does build  like a house and    
even a home1 often with walls and roof  
and door2  as square as a cottage1 as   
solid as a fort4  ,and that is his      
grave4  ,a ,moslem cemetery is literally
 like a little village4  ,it is a       
village1  as the saying goes1 that one  
would not care to walk through at night4
  ,there is something singularly creepy 
about so strange a street  of houses1   
each with a door that might be opened by
 a dead man4  ,but in a less fanciful   
sense1 there is about it something      
profoundly  pathetic and human4  ,here  
indeed is the sailor home from sea1  in 

the only port he will consent to call   
his home2 here at last  the nomad       
confesses the common need of men4  ,but 
even about this  there broods the       
presence of the desert and its dry bones
 of reason4  ,he will accept nothing    
between a tent and a tomb4    ,the      
philosophy of the desert can only begin 
over again4  ,it cannot grow2 it cannot 
have what ,protestants call progress    
and ,catholics call development4  ,there
 is death and hell  in the desert when  
it does begin over again4  ,there is    
always  the possibility that a new      
prophet will rediscover the old truth2  
will find again written on the red sands
 the secret of the obvious4  ,but it    
will always be the same secret1 for     
which thousands  of these simple and    
serious and splendidly valiant men will 
die4  ,the highest message of ,mahomet  
is a piece of divine tautology4  ,the   
very cry that ,god is ,god is a         
repetition of words1 like the           
repetitions of wide sands and rolling   

skies4  ,the very phrase is like  an    
everlasting echo1 that can never cease  
to say the same sacred word2  and when  
,i saw afterwards the mightiest and most
 magnificent  of all the mosques of that
 land1 ,i found that its inscriptions   
had the same character of a deliberate  
and defiant sameness4  ,the ancient     
,arabic alphabet and script is itself at
 once so elegant  and so exact that it  
can be used as a fixed ornament1 like   
the egg  and dart pattern or the ,greek 
key4  ,it is as if we could make  a     
heraldry of handwriting1 or cover a     
wall-paper with signatures4  ,but the   
literary style is as recurrent as the   
decorative style2  perhaps that is why  
it can be used as a decorative style4   
,phrases are repeated again and again   
like ornamental stars or flowers4  ,many
 modern people1 for example1 imagine    
that the ,athanasian ,creed  is full of 
vain repetitions2 but that is because   
people are too lazy  to listen to it1 or
 not lucid enough to understand it4     

,the same  terms are used throughout1 as
 they are in a proposition of ,euclid4  
,but the steps are all as differentiated
 and progressive as in a  proposition of
 ,euclid4  ,but in the inscriptions of  
the ,mosque whole  sentences seem to    
occur1 not like the steps of an         
argument1 but rather  like the chorus of
 a song4  ,this is the impression       
everywhere produced  by this spirit of  
the sandy wastes2 this is the voice of  
the desert1  though the muezzin cries   
from the high turrets of the city4      
,indeed one is driven to repeating      
oneself about the repetition1  so       
overpowering is the impression of the   
tall horizons of those  tremendous      
plains1 brooding upon the soul with all 
the solemn weight  of the self-evident4 
,there is indeed another aspect of the  
desert1 yet more ancient  and momentous1
 of which ,i may speak2 but here ,i only
 deal  with its effect on this great    
religion of simplicity4  ,for it is     
through the atmosphere of that religion 

that a man makes his way1  as so many   
pilgrims have done1 to the goal of this 
pilgrimage4  ,also this particular      
aspect remained the more sharply in my  
memory  because of the suddenness with  
which ,i escaped from it4  ,i had not   
expected the contrast2 and it may have  
coloured all my after experiences4  ,i  
descended from the desert train at      
,ludd1 which had all the look  of a     
large camp in the desert2 appropriately 
enough perhaps1  for it is the          
traditional birthplace of the soldier   
,st4 ,george4  ,at the moment1 however1 
there was nothing rousing or romantic   
about its appearance4  ,it was perhaps  
unusually dreary2 for heavy  rain had   
fallen2 and the water stood about in    
what it is easier  to call large puddles
 than anything so poetic as small pools4
  ,a motor car sent by friends had      
halted beside the platform2  ,i got into
 it with a not unusual vagueness about  
where ,i  was going2 and it wound its   
way up miry paths to a more rolling     

stretch of country with patches of      
cactus here and there4  ,and then with a
 curious abruptness ,i became conscious 
that  the whole huge desert had         
vanished1 and ,i was in a new land4     
,the dark red plains had rolled away    
like an enormous nightmare2  and ,i     
found myself in a fresh and exceedingly 
pleasant dream4    ,i know it will seem 
fanciful2 but for a moment ,i really    
felt as if ,i  had come home2 or rather 
to that home behind home for which we   
are all homesick4  ,the lost memory of  
it is the life at once  of faith and of 
fairy-tale4 ,groves glowing with oranges
 rose behind  hedges of grotesque cactus
 or prickly pear2 which really looked   
like green dragons guarding the golden  
apples of the ,hesperides4  ,on each    
side of the road were such flowers as ,i
 had never seen  before under the sun2  
for indeed they seemed to have the sun  
in them  rather than the sun on them4   
,clusters and crowds of crimson anemones
  were of a red not to be symbolised in 

blood or wine2 but rather  in the red   
glass that glows in the window dedicated
 to a martyr4  ,only in a wild ,eastern 
tale could one picture a pilgrim or     
traveller finding such a garden in the  
desert2 and ,i thought  of the oldest   
tale of all and the garden from which we
 came4  ,but there was something in it  
yet more subtle2 which there must  be in
 the impression of any earthly paradise4
  ,it is vital to such  a dream that    
things familiar should be mixed with    
things fantastic2  as when an actual    
dream is filled with the faces of old   
friends4  ,sparrows1 which seem to be   
the same all over the world1 were       
darting  hither and thither among the   
flowers2 and ,i had the fancy that they 
were the souls of the town-sparrows of  
,london and the smoky cities1  and now  
gone wherever the good sparrows go4     
,and a little way  up the road before   
me1 on the hill between the cactus      
hedges1  ,i saw a grey donkey trotting2 
and ,i could almost have sworn that it  

was the donkey ,i had left at home4     
,he was trotting on ahead of me1 and the
 outline of his erect  and elfish ears  
was dark against the sky4  ,he was      
evidently  going somewhere with great   
determination2 and ,i thought ,i knew   
to what appropriate place he was going1 
and that it was my fate  to follow him  
like a moving omen4  ,i lost sight of   
him later1  for ,i had to complete the  
journey by train2 but the train followed
  the same direction1 which was up      
steeper and steeper hills4  ,i began to 
realise more clearly where ,i was2 and  
to know that  the garden in the desert  
that had bloomed so suddenly about me   
had borne for many desert wanderers the 
name of the promised land4  ,as the     
rocks rose higher and higher on every   
side1 and hung  over us like terrible   
and tangible clouds1 ,i saw in the dim  
grass  of the slopes below them         
something ,i had never seen before4  ,it
 was a rainbow fallen upon the earth1   
with no part of it  against the sky1 but

 only the grasses and the flowers       
shining  through its fine shades of     
fiery colour4  ,i thought this also was 
like an omen2 and in such a mood of idle
 mysticism there fell  on me another    
accident which ,i was content to count  
for a third4  ,for when the train       
stopped at last in the rain1 and there  
was no other  vehicle for the last lap  
of the journey1 a very courteous        
officer1  an army surgeon1 gave me a    
seat in an ambulance wagon2 and it was  
under the shield of the red cross that  
,i entered ,jerusalem4    ,for suddenly1
 between a post of the wagon and a wrack
 of rainy cloud  ,i saw it1 uplifted and
 withdrawn under all the arching heavens
  of its history1 alone with its        
benediction and its blasphemy1  the city
 that is set upon a hill1 and cannot be 
hid4        ,,chapter ,,iii    ,,the    
,,gates ,,of ,,the ,,city    ,the men ,i
 met coming from ,jerusalem reported all
 sorts of  contradictory impressions2   
and yet my own impression contradicted  

them all4  ,their impressions were      
doubtless as true as mine2  but ,i      
describe my own because it is true1 and 
because ,i think it  points to a        
neglected truth about the real          
,jerusalem4  ,i need not say  ,i did not
 expect the real ,jerusalem to be the   
,new ,jerusalem2 a city  of charity and 
peace1 any more than a city of          
chrysolite and pearl4  ,i might more    
reasonably have expected an austere and 
ascetic place1  oppressed with the      
weight of its destiny1 with no inns     
except monasteries1  and these sealed   
with the terrible silence of the        
,trappists2  an awful city where men    
speak by signs in the street4  ,i did   
not need the numberless jokes about     
,jerusalem to-day1  to warn me against  
expecting this2 anyhow ,i did not expect
 it1  and certainly ,i did not find it4 
,but neither did ,i find what ,i  was   
much more inclined to expect2 something 
at the other extreme4  ,many reports had
 led me to look for a truly cosmopolitan

 town1  that is a truly conquered town4 
,i looked for a place like ,cairo1      
containing indeed old and interesting   
things1 but open on every side  to new  
and vulgar things2 full of the touts who
 seem only created  for the tourists and
 the tourists who seem only created for 
the touts4  ,there may be more of this  
in the place than pleases those  who    
would idealise it4  ,but ,i fancy there 
is much less of it  than is commonly    
supposed in the reaction from such an   
ideal4  ,it does not1 like ,cairo1 offer
 the exciting experience of twenty      
guides fighting for one traveller2 of   
young ,turks drinking ,american         
cocktails as a protest against          
,christian wine4  ,the town is quite    
inconvenient enough to make it a decent 
place for pilgrims4  ,or a stranger     
might have imagined a place even less   
,western than ,cairo1  one of those     
villages of ,palestine described in     
dusty old books  of ,biblical research4 
,he might remember drawings like        

diagrams  representing a well or a      
wine-press1 rather a dry well1 so to    
speak1  and a wine-press very difficult 
to associate with wine4  ,these hard    
colourless outlines never did justice to
 the colour of the ,east1 but even  to  
give it the colour of the ,east would   
not do justice to ,jerusalem4  ,if ,i   
had anticipated the ,bagdad of all our  
dreams1 a maze of bazaars  glowing with 
gorgeous wares1 ,i should have been     
wrong again4  ,there is quite enough of 
this vivid and varied colour in         
,jerusalem1  but it is not the first    
fact that arrests the attention1  and   
certainly not the first that arrested   
mine4  ,i give my own first  impression 
as a fact1 for what it is worth and     
exactly as it came4  ,i did not expect  
it1 and it was some time before ,i even 
understood it4  ,as soon as ,i was      
walking inside the walls of ,jerusalem1 
,i had  an overwhelming impression that 
,i was walking in the town of ,rye1     
where it looks across the flat          

sea-meadows towards ,winchelsea4    ,as 
,i tried to explain this eccentric      
sentiment to myself1 ,i was  conscious  
of another which at once completed and  
contradicted it4  ,it was not only like 
a memory of ,rye1 it was mixed with a   
memory  of the ,mount ,st4 ,michael1    
which stands among the sands of         
,normandy on the other side of the      
narrow seas4  ,the first part  of the   
sensation is that the traveller1 as he  
walks the stony  streets between the    
walls1 feels that he is inside a        
fortress4  ,but it is the paradox of    
such a place that1 while he feels in a  
sense  that he is in a prison1 he also  
feels that he is on a precipice4  ,the  
sense of being uplifted1 and set on a   
high place1 comes to him  through the   
smallest cranny1 or most accidental     
crack in rock  or stone2 it comes to him
 especially through those long narrow   
windows in the walls of the old         
fortifications2 those slits  in the     
stone through which the medieval archers

 used their bows  and the medieval      
artists used their eyes1 with even      
greater success4  ,those green glimpses 
of fields far below or of flats far     
away1  which delight us and yet make us 
dizzy 7by being both near and far7  when
 seen through the windows of ,memling1  
can often be seen from  the walls of    
,jerusalem4  ,then ,i remembered that in
 the same strips  of medieval landscape 
could be seen always1 here and there1 a 
steep  hill crowned with a city of      
towers4  ,and ,i knew ,i had the        
mystical  and double pleasure of seeing 
such a hill and standing on it4  ,a city
 that is set upon a hill cannot be hid2 
but it is more  strange when the hill   
cannot anywhere be hid1 even from the   
citizen  in the city4    ,then indeed ,i
 knew that what ,i saw was ,jerusalem of
 the ,crusaders2  or at least ,jerusalem
 of the ,crusades4  ,it was a medieval  
town1 with walls  and gates and a       
citadel1 and built upon a hill to be    
defended by bowmen4  ,the greater part  

of the actual walls now standing were   
built by ,moslems  late in the ,middle  
,ages2 but they are almost exactly like 
the walls  that were being built by the 
,christians at or before that time4     
,the ,crusader ,edward1 afterwards      
,edward the ,first1 reared such         
battlements far away among the rainy    
hills of ,wales4  ,i do not know  what  
elements were originally ,gothic or what
 originally ,saracenic4  ,the ,crusaders
 and the ,saracens constantly copied    
each other while  they combated each    
other2 indeed it is a fact always to be 
found  in such combats4  ,it is one of  
the arguments against war that are      
really human1 and therefore are never   
used by humanitarians4  ,the curse of   
war is that it does lead to more        
international imitation2  while in peace
 and freedom men can afford to have     
national variety4  ,but some things in  
this country were certainly copied from 
the ,christian invaders1 and even if    
they are not ,christian they  are in    

many ways strangely ,european4  ,the    
wall and gates which  now stand1        
whatever stood before them and whatever 
comes after them1  carry a memory of    
those men from the ,west who came here  
upon  that wild adventure1 who climbed  
this rock and clung to it so  perilously
 from the victory of ,godfrey to the    
victory of ,saladin2  and that is why   
this momentary ,eastern exile reminded  
me so strangely  of the hill of ,rye and
 of home4    ,i do not forget1 of       
course1 that all these visible walls and
 towers  are but the battlements and    
pinnacles of a buried city1 or of many  
buried cities4  ,i do not forget that   
such buildings have foundations  that   
are to us almost like fossils2 the      
gigantic fossils of some  other         
geological epoch4  ,something may be    
said later of those lost  empires whose 
very masterpieces are to us like        
petrified monsters4  ,from this height1 
after long histories unrecorded1 fell   
the forgotten  idol of the ,jebusites1  

on that day when ,david's javelin-men   
scaled the citadel and carried through  
it1 in darkness behind his  coloured    
curtains1 the god whose image had never 
been made by man4  ,here was waged that 
endless war between the graven gods of  
the plain  and the invisible god of the 
mountain2 from here the hosts carrying  
the sacred fish of the ,philistines were
 driven back to the sea  from which     
their worship came4  ,those who         
worshipped on this hill  had come out of
 bondage in ,egypt and went into bondage
 in ,babylon2  small as was their       
country1 there passed before them almost
 the whole  pageant of the old pagan    
world4  ,all its strange shapes and     
strong  almost cruel colours remain in  
the records of their prophets2  whose   
lightest phrase seems heavier than the  
pyramids of ,egypt2  and whose very     
words are like winged bulls walking4    
,all this historic or  pre-historic     
interest may be touched on in its turn2 
but ,i am not dealing  here with the    

historic secrets unearthed by the study 
of the place1  but with the historic    
associations aroused by the sight of it4
  ,the traveller is in the position of  
that famous fantastic who tied  his     
horse to a wayside cross in the snow1   
and afterward saw it  dangling from the 
church-spire of what had been a buried  
city4  ,but here the cross does not     
stand as it does on the top of a spire2 
but as it does on the top of an         
,egyptian obelisk in ,rome1--  where the
 priests have put a cross on the top of 
the heathen monument2  for fear it      
should walk4  ,i entirely sympathise    
with their sentiment2  and ,i shall try 
to suggest later why ,i think that      
symbol  the logical culmination of      
heathen as well as ,christian things4   
,the traveller in the traveller's tale  
looked up at last and saw1  from the    
streets far below1 the spire and cross  
dominating a ,gothic city4  ,if ,i      
looked up in a vision and saw it        
dominating a ,babylonian city1  that    

blocked the heavens with monstrous      
palaces and temples1  ,i should still   
think it natural that it should         
dominate4  ,but the point here is that  
what ,i saw above ground was rather the 
,gothic  town than the ,babylonian2 and 
that it reminded me1 if not specially   
of the cross1 at least of the soldiers  
who took the cross4    ,nor do ,i forget
 the long centuries that have passed    
over the place  since these medieval    
walls were built1 any more than the far 
more interesting centuries that passed  
before they were built4  ,but any one   
taking exception to the description on  
that ground  may well realise1 on       
consideration1 that it is an exception  
that proves the rule4  ,there is        
something very negative about  ,turkish 
rule2 and the best and worst of it is in
 the word neglect4  ,everything that    
lived under the vague empire of         
,constantinople  remained in a state of 
suspended animation like something      
frozen  rather than decayed1 like       

something sleeping rather than dead4    
,it was a sort of ,arabian spell1 like  
that which turned princes  and          
princesses into marble statues in the   
,arabian ,nights4  ,all that part of the
 history of the place is a kind of      
sleep2  and that of a sleeper who hardly
 knows if he has slept an hour or a     
hundred years4  ,when ,i first found    
myself in the ,jaffa ,gate of           
,jerusalem1  my eye happened to fall on 
something that might be seen anywhere1  
but which seemed somehow to have a      
curious significance there4  ,most      
people are conscious of some common     
object which still  strikes them as     
uncommon2 as if it were the first       
fantastic sketch  in the sketch-book of 
nature4  ,i myself can never overcome   
the sense  of something almost unearthly
 about grass growing upon human         
buildings4  ,there is in it a wild and  
even horrible fancy1 as if houses could 
grow hair4  ,when ,i saw that green hair
 on the huge stone blocks of  the       

citadel1 though ,i had seen the same    
thing on any number of ruins1  it came  
to me like an omen or a vision1 a       
curious vision at once  of chaos and of 
sleep4  ,it is said that the grass will 
not grow  where the ,turk sets his foot2
 but it is the other side of the same   
truth to say that it would grow anywhere
 but where it ought to grow4  ,and      
though in this case it was but an       
accident and a symbol1  it was a very   
true symbol4  ,we talk of the green     
banner of the ,turk  having been planted
 on this or that citadel2 and certainly 
it  was so planted with splendid valour 
and sensational victory4  ,but this is  
the green banner that he plants on all  
his high cities  in the end4            
,therefore my immediate impression of   
the walls and gates was  not            
contradicted by my consciousness of what
 came before and  what came after that  
medieval period4  ,it remained primarily
  a thing of walls and gates2 a thing   
which the modern world  does not perhaps

 understand so well as the medieval     
world4  ,there is involved in it all    
that idea of definition which those who 
do  not like it are fond of describing  
as dogma4  ,a wall is like rule2  and   
the gates are like the exceptions that  
prove the rule4  ,the man making it has 
to decide where his rule will run  and  
where his exception shall stand4  ,he   
cannot have a city  that is all gates   
any more than a house that is all       
windows2  nor is it possible to have a  
law that consists entirely of liberties4
  ,the ancient races and religions that 
contended for this city agreed  with    
each other in this1 when they differed  
about everything else4  ,it was true of 
practically all of them that when they  
built a city they  built a citadel4     
,that is1 whatever strange thing they   
may have made1  they regarded it as     
something to be defined and to be       
defended4    ,and from this standpoint  
the holy city was a happy city2  it had 
no suburbs4  ,that is to say1 there are 

all sorts  of buildings outside the     
wall2 but they are outside the wall4    
,everybody is conscious of being inside 
or outside a boundary2 but it  is the   
whole character of the true suburbs     
which grow round our great  industrial  
towns that they grow1 as it were1       
unconsciously and blindly1  like grass  
that covers up a boundary line traced on
 the earth4  ,this indefinite expansion 
is controlled neither by the soul of the
 city  from within1 nor by the          
resistance of the lands round about4    
,it destroys  at once the dignity of a  
town and the freedom of a countryside4  
,the citizens are too new and numerous  
for citizenship2 yet they  never learn  
what there is to be learned of the      
ancient traditions  of agriculture4     
,the first sight of the sharp outline of
 ,jerusalem  is like a memory of the    
older types of limitation and liberty4  
,happy is the city that has a wall2 and 
happier still if it  is a precipice4    
,again1 ,jerusalem might be called a    

city of staircases4  ,many streets are  
steep and most actually cut into steps4 
,it is1 ,i believe1 an element in the   
controversy about the cave  at          
,bethlehem traditionally connected with 
the ,nativity  that the sceptics doubt  
whether any beasts of burden could  have
 entered a stable that has to be reached
 by such steps4  ,and indeed to any one 
in a modern city like ,london or        
,liverpool  it may well appear odd1 like
 a cab-horse climbing a ladder4  ,but as
 a matter of fact1 if the asses and     
goats of ,jerusalem  could not go up and
 downstairs1 they could not go anywhere4
  ,however this may be1 ,i mention the  
matter here merely as adding another    
touch to that angular profile which is  
the impression involved here4           
,strangely enough1 there is something   
that leads up to this impression  even  
in the labyrinth of mountains through   
which the road winds  its way to the    
city4  ,the hills round ,jerusalem are  
themselves  often hewn out in terraces1 

like a huge stairway4  ,this is mostly  
for the practical and indeed profitable 
purpose of vineyards2  and serves for a 
reminder that this ancient seat of      
civilisation  has not lost the tradition
 of the mercy and the glory of the vine4
  ,but in outline such a mountain looks 
much like the mountain  of ,purgatory   
that ,dante saw in his vision1 lifted in
 terraces1  like titanic steps up to    
,god4  ,and indeed this shape also is   
symbolic2  as symbolic as the pointed   
profile of the ,holy ,city4  ,for a     
creed is like a ladder1 while an        
evolution is only like a slope4  ,a     
spiritual and social evolution is       
generally a pretty slippery slope2  a   
miry slope where it is very easy to     
slide down again4    ,such is something 
like the sharp and even abrupt          
impression produced  by this mountain   
city2 and especially by its wall with   
gates  like a house with windows4  ,a   
gate1 like a window1 is primarily  a    
picture-frame4 ,the pictures that are   

found within the frame are  indeed very 
various and sometimes very alien4       
,within this frame-work  are indeed to  
be found things entirely ,asiatic1 or   
entirely ,moslem1  or even entirely     
nomadic4  ,but ,jerusalem itself is not 
nomadic4  ,nothing could be less like a 
mere camp of tents pitched by ,arabs4   
,nothing could be less like the mere    
chaos of colour in a temporary  and     
tawdry bazaar4  ,the ,arabs are there   
and the colours are there1  and they    
make a glorious picture2 but the picture
 is in a ,gothic frame1  and is seen so 
to speak through a ,gothic window4  ,and
 the meaning of all  this is the meaning
 of all windows1 and especially of      
,gothic windows4  ,it is that even light
 itself is most divine within limits2   
and that even the shining one is most   
shining1 when he takes upon  himself a  
shape4    ,such a system of walls and   
gates1 like many other things thought   
rude  and primitive1 is really very     
rationalistic4  ,it turns the town1  as 

it were1 into a plan of itself1 and even
 into a guide to itself4  ,this is      
especially true1 as may be suggested in 
a moment1  regarding the direction of   
the roads leading out of it4  ,but      
anyhow1 a man must decide which way he  
will leave the city2  he cannot merely  
drift out of the city as he drifts out  
of the modern  cities through a litter  
of slums4  ,and there is no better way  
to get  a preliminary plan of the city  
than to follow the wall and fix the     
gates  in the memory4  ,suppose1 for    
instance1 that a man begins in the south
  with the ,zion ,gate1 which bears the 
ancient name of ,jerusalem4  ,this1 to  
begin with1 will sharpen the medieval   
and even the ,western  impression first 
because it is here that he has the      
strongest  sentiment of threading the   
narrow passages of a great castle2  but 
also because the very name of the gate  
was given to this south-western  hill by
 ,godfrey and ,tancred during the period
 of the ,latin kingdom4  ,i believe it  

is one of the problems of the scholars  
why the ,latin  conquerors called this  
hill the ,zion ,hill1 when the other is 
obviously  the sacred hill4  ,jerusalem 
is traditionally divided into four      
hills1  but for practical purposes into 
two2 the lower eastern hill where  stood
 the ,temple1 and now stands the great  
,mosque1 and the western  where is the  
citadel and the ,zion ,gate to the south
 of it4  ,i know nothing of such        
questions2 and ,i attach no importance  
to  the notion that has crossed my own  
mind1 and which ,i only mention  in     
passing1 for ,i have no doubt there are 
a hundred objections to it4  ,but it is 
known that ,zion or ,sion was the old   
name of the place  before it was stormed
 by ,david2 and even afterwards the     
,jebusites  remained on this western    
hill1 and some compromise seems to have 
been made with them4  ,is it            
conceivable1 ,i wonder1 that even in    
the twelfth century there lingered some 
local memory of what had  once been a   

way of distinguishing ,sion of the      
,jebusites from ,salem  of the ,jews8   
,the ,zion ,gate1 however1 is only a    
starting-point here2  if we go          
south-eastward from it we descend a     
steep and rocky path1  from which can be
 caught the first and finest vision of  
what stands  on the other hill to the   
east4  ,the great ,mosque of ,omar      
stands  up like a peacock1 lustrous with
 mosaics that are like plumes  of blue  
and green4    ,scholars1 ,i may say     
here1 object to calling it the ,mosque  
of ,omar2  on the petty and pedantic    
ground that it is not a mosque and was  
not built by ,omar4  ,but it is my fixed
 intention to call it  the ,mosque of   
,omar1 and with ever renewed pertinacity
 to continue  calling it the ,mosque of 
,omar4  ,i possess a special permit from
  the ,grand ,mufti to call it the      
,mosque of ,omar4  ,he is the head  of  
the whole ,moslem religion1 and if he   
does not know1 who does8  ,he told me1  
in the beautiful ,french which matches  

his beautiful manners1  that it really  
is not so ridiculous after all to call  
the place  the ,mosque of ,omar1 since  
the great ,caliph desired and even      
designed  such a building1 though he did
 not build it4  ,i suppose it is  rather
 as if ,solomon's ,temple had been      
called ,david's ,temple4  ,omar was a   
great man and the ,mosque was a great   
work1 and the two were  telescoped      
together by the excellent common sense  
of vulgar tradition4  ,there could not  
be a better example of that great truth 
for  all travellers2 that popular       
tradition is never so right as when it  
is wrong2 and that pedantry is never so 
wrong as when it is right4  ,and as for 
the other objection1 that the ,dome of  
the ,rock  7to give it its other name7  
is not actually used as a ,mosque1 ,i   
answer that ,westminster ,abbey is not  
used as an ,abbey4  ,but modern         
,englishmen would be much surprised if  
,i were to refer to it  as ,westminster 
,church2 to say nothing of the many     

modern ,englishmen  for whom it would be
 more suitable to call it ,westminster  
,museum4  ,and for whatever purposes the
 ,moslems may actually use their  great 
and glorious sanctuary1 at least they   
have not allowed  it to become the      
private house of a particular rich man4 
,and that is what we have suffered to   
happen1 if not to ,westminster ,abbey1  
at least to ,welbeck ,abbey4    ,the    
,mosque of ,omar 7,i repeat firmly7     
stands on the great eastern  plateau in 
place of the ,temple2 and the wall that 
runs round  to it on the south side of  
the city contains only the ,dung ,gate1 
on which the fancy need not linger4     
,all along outside this  wall the ground
 falls away into the southern valley2   
and upon  the dreary and stony steep    
opposite is the place called ,acaldama4 
,wall and valley turn together round the
 corner of the great  temple platform1  
and confronting the eastern wall1 across
 the ravine1  is the mighty wall of the 
,mount of ,olives4  ,on this side there 

are several gates now blocked up1 of    
which the most famous1  the ,golden     
,gate1 carries in its very uselessness a
 testimony  to the fallen warriors of   
the cross4  ,for there is a strange     
,moslem legend that through this gate1  
so solemnly sealed up1  shall ride the  
,christian ,king who shall again rule in
 ,jerusalem4  ,in the middle of the     
square enclosure rises the great dark   
,dome  of the ,rock2 and standing near  
it1 a man may see for the first time  in
 the distance1 another dome4  ,it lies  
away to the west1 but a little  to the  
north2 and it is surmounted1 not by a   
crescent but a cross4  ,many heroes and 
holy kings have desired to see this     
thing1  and have not seen it4    ,it is 
very characteristic of the city1 with   
its medieval medley and huddle  of      
houses1 that a man may first see the    
,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre  which  
is in the west1 by going as far as      
possible to the east4  ,all the sights  
are glimpses2 and things far can be     

visible and things  near invisible4     
,the traveller comes on the ,moslem dome
 round a corner2  and he finds the      
,christian dome1 as it were1 behind his 
own back4  ,but if he goes on round the 
wall to the north-east corner of the    
,court  of the ,temple1 he will find the
 next entrance2 the ,gate of ,st4       
,stephen4  ,on the slope outside1 by a  
strange and suitable coincidence1  the  
loose stones which lie on every side of 
the mountain city  seemed to be heaped  
higher2 and across the valley on the    
skirts  of the ,mount of ,olives is the 
great grey olive of ,gethsemane4    ,on 
the northern side the valley turns to an
 artificial trench1  for the ground here
 is higher2 and the next or northern    
gate bears  the name of ,herod2 though  
it might well bear the name either  of  
,godfrey or ,saladin4  ,for just outside
 it stands a pine-tree1  and beside it a
 rude bulk of stone2 where stood these  
great  captains in turn1 before they    
took ,jerusalem4  ,then the wall runs   

on till it comes to the great ,damascus 
,gate1 graven ,i know not  why with     
great roses in a style wholly heraldic  
and occidental1  and in no way likely to
 remind us of the rich roses of         
,damascus2  though their name has passed
 into our own ,english tongue and       
tradition1  along with another word for 
the delicate decoration of the sword4   
,but at the first glance1 at any rate1  
it is hard to believe that  the roses on
 the walls are not the ,western roses of
 ,york or ,lancaster1  or that the      
swords which guarded them were not the  
straight swords  of ,england or of      
,france4  ,doubtless a deeper and more  
solemn memory  ought to return          
immediately to the mind where that gate 
looks down  the great highway2 as if one
 could see1 hung over it in the sky for 
ever1  the cloud concealing the sunburst
 that broods upon the road to ,damascus4
  ,but ,i am here only confessing the   
facts or fancies of my first impression2
  and again the fancy that came to me   

first was not of any such  alien or     
awful things4  ,i did not think of      
damask or damascene  or the great       
,arabian city or even the conversion of 
,st4 ,paul4  ,i thought of my own little
 house in ,buckinghamshire1 and how the 
edge  of the country town where it      
stands is called ,aylesbury ,end1       
merely because it is the corner nearest 
to ,aylesbury4  ,that is what ,i mean by
 saying that these ancient customs are  
more  rational and even utilitarian than
 the fashions of modernity4  ,when a    
street in a new suburb is called        
,pretoria ,avenue1 the clerk  living    
there does not set out from his villa   
with the cheerful hope  of finding the  
road lead him to ,pretoria4  ,but the   
man leaving  ,aylesbury ,end does know  
it would lead him to ,aylesbury2 and the
 man  going out at the ,damascus ,gate  
did know it would lead him to ,damascus4
  ,and the same is true of the next and 
last of the old entrances1  the ,jaffa  
,gate in the east2 but when ,i saw that 

,i saw something  else as well4    ,i   
have heard that there is a low doorway  
at the entrance to a famous  shrine     
which is called the ,gate of ,humility2 
but indeed in this sense  all gates are 
gates of humility1 and especially gates 
of this kind4  ,any one who has ever    
looked at a landscape under an archway  
will know what ,i mean1 when ,i say that
 it sharpens a pleasure  with a strange 
sentiment of privilege4  ,it adds to the
 grace  of distance something that makes
 it not only a grace but a gift4  ,such 
are the visions of remote places that   
appear in the low gateways  of a ,gothic
 town2 as if each gateway led into a    
separate world2  and almost as if each  
dome of sky were a different chamber4   
,but he who walks round the walls of    
this city in this spirit will come      
suddenly upon an exception which will   
surprise him like an earthquake4  ,it   
looks indeed rather like something done 
by an earthquake2  an earthquake with a 
half-witted sense of humour4            

,immediately at  the side of one of     
these humble and human gateways there is
 a great gap  in the wall1 with a wide  
road running through it4  ,there is     
something  of unreason in the sight     
which affects the eye as well as the    
reason4  ,it recalls some crazy tale    
about the great works of the ,wise ,men 
of ,gotham4  ,it suggests the old joke  
about the man who made  a small hole for
 the kitten as well as a large hole for 
the cat4  ,everybody has read about it  
by this time2 but the immediate         
impression  of it is not merely an      
effect of reading or even of reasoning4 
,it looks lop-sided2 like something done
 by a one-eyed giant4  ,but it was done 
by the last prince of the great         
,prussian imperial system1  in what was 
probably the proudest moment in all his 
life of pride4    ,what is true has a   
way of sounding trite2 and what is trite
 has  a way of sounding false4  ,we     
shall now probably weary the world  with
 calling the ,germans barbaric1 just as 

we very recently wearied  the world with
 calling them cultured and progressive  
and scientific4  ,but the thing is true 
though we say it a thousand times4  ,and
 any one who  wishes to understand the  
sense in which it is true has only to   
contemplate  that fantasy and fallacy in
 stone2 a gate with an open road beside 
it4  ,the quality ,i mean1 however1 is  
not merely in that particular contrast2 
as of a front door standing by itself in
 an open field4  ,it is also in the     
origin1 the occasion and the whole story
 of the thing4  ,there is above all this
 supreme stamp of the barbarian2 the    
sacrifice  of the permanent to the      
temporary4  ,when the walls of the ,holy
 ,city  were overthrown for the glory of
 the ,german ,emperor1 it was hardly    
even for that everlasting glory which   
has been the vision and  the temptation 
of great men4  ,it was for the glory of 
a single day4  ,it was something rather 
in the nature of a holiday than anything
  that could be even in the most        

vainglorious sense a heritage4  ,it did 
not in the ordinary sense make a        
monument1 or even a trophy4  ,it        
destroyed a monument to make a          
procession4  ,we might almost say  that 
it destroyed a trophy to make a triumph4
  ,there is the true  barbaric touch in 
this oblivion of what ,jerusalem would  
look like a  century after1 or a year   
after1 or even the day after4  ,it is   
this  which distinguishes the savage    
tribe on the march after a victory from 
the civilised army establishing a       
government1 even if it be a tyranny4    
,hence the very effect of it1 like the  
effect of the whole ,prussian  adventure
 in history1 remains something negative 
and even nihilistic4  ,the ,christians  
made the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre
 and the ,moslems  made the ,mosque of  
,omar2 but this is what the most        
scientific  culture made at the end of  
the great century of science4  ,it made 
an enormous hole4  ,the only positive   
contribution of  the nineteenth century 

to the spot is an unnaturally ugly      
clock1  at the top of an ornamental     
tower1 or a tower that was meant to  be 
ornamental4  ,it was erected1 ,i        
believe1 to commemorate the reign  of   
,abdul ,hamid2 and it seems perfectly   
adapted to its purpose1  like one of    
,sir ,william ,watson's sonnets on the  
same subject4  ,but this object only    
adds a touch of triviality to the much  
more  tremendous negative effect of the 
gap by the gate4  ,that remains a       
parable  as well as a puzzle1 under all 
the changing skies of day and night2    
with the shadows that gather tinder the 
narrow ,gate of ,humility2  and beside  
it1 blank as daybreak and abrupt as an  
abyss1 the broad  road that has led     
already to destruction4    ,the gap     
remains like a gash1 a sort of wound in 
the walls2 but it  only strengthens by  
contrast the general sense of their     
continuity4  ,save this one angle where 
the nineteenth century has entered1  the
 vague impression of the thirteenth or  

fourteenth century rather  deepens than 
dies away4  ,it is supported more than  
many would suppose  even by the figures 
that appear in the gateways or pass in  
procession  under the walls4  ,the brown
 ,franciscans and the white ,dominicans 
would alone give some colour to a memory
 of the ,latin kingdom  of ,jerusalem2  
and there are other examples and effects
 which are  less easily imagined in the 
,west4  ,thus as ,i look down the       
street1  ,i see coming out from under an
 archway a woman wearing a high white   
head-dress very like those we have all  
seen in a hundred pictures  of          
tournaments or hunting parties1 or the  
,canterbury ,pilgrimage  or the ,court  
of ,louis ,,xi4  ,she is as white as a  
woman of the ,north2  and it is not1 ,i 
think1 entirely fanciful to trace a     
certain  freedom and dignity in her     
movement1 which is quite different  at  
least from the shuffling walk of the    
shrouded ,moslem women4  ,she is a woman
 of ,bethlehem1 where a tradition1 it is

 said1 still claims  as a heroic        
heritage the blood of the ,latin knights
 of the cross4  ,this is1 of course1 but
 one aspect of the city2 but it is one  
which may be early noted1 yet one which 
is generally neglected4  ,as ,i have    
said1 ,i had expected many things of    
,jerusalem1  but ,i had not expected    
this4  ,i had expected to be            
disappointed  with it as a place utterly
 profaned and fallen below its mission4 
,i had expected to be awed by it2 indeed
 ,i had expected to be frightened  of   
it1 as a place dedicated and even doomed
 by its mission4  ,but ,i had never     
fancied that it would be possible to be 
fond of it2  as one might be fond of a  
little walled town among the orchards   
of ,normandy or the hop-fields of ,kent4
    ,and just then there happened a     
coincidence that was also something     
like a catastrophe4  ,i was idly        
watching1 as it moved down  the narrow  
street to one of the dark doorways1 the 
head-dress1  like a tower of white      

drapery1 belonging to the ,christian    
woman  from the place where ,christ was 
born4  ,after she had disappeared  into 
the darkness of the porch ,i continued  
to look vaguely  at the porch1 and      
thought how easily it might have been a 
small  ,gothic gate in some old corner  
of ,rouen1 or even ,canterbury4  ,in    
twenty such places in the town one may  
see the details that  appeal to the same
 associations1 so different and so      
distant4  ,one may see that angular     
dogtooth ornament that makes the round  
,norman gateways look like the gaping   
mouths of sharks4  ,one may see the     
pointed niches in the walls1 shaped like
 windows  and serving somewhat the      
purpose of brackets1 on which were  to  
stand sacred images possibly removed by 
the ,moslems4  ,one may come upon a     
small court planted with ornamental     
trees  with some monument in the centre1
 which makes the precise impression  of 
something in a small ,french town4      
,there are no ,gothic spires1  but there

 are numberless ,gothic doors and       
windows2 and he who  first strikes the  
place at this angle1 as it were1 may    
well feel  the ,northern element as     
native and the ,eastern element as      
intrusive4  ,while ,i was thinking all  
these things1 something happened which  
in  that place was almost a portent4    
,it was very cold2 and there were       
curious colours in the sky4  ,there had 
been chilly rains from time to time2 and
 the whole  air seemed to have taken on 
something sharper than a chill4  ,it was
 as if a door had been opened in the    
northern corner of the heavens2  letting
 in something that changed all the face 
of the earth4  ,great grey clouds with  
haloes of lurid pearl and pale-green    
were coming  up from the plains or the  
sea and spreading over the towers of the
 city4  ,in the middle of the moving    
mass of grey vapours was a splash  of   
paler vapour2 a wan white cloud whose   
white seemed somehow more  ominous than 
gloom4  ,it went over the high citadel  

like a white  wild goose flying2 and a  
few white feathers fell4    ,it was the 
snow2 and it snowed day and night until 
that ,eastern  city was sealed up like a
 village in ,norway or ,northern        
,scotland4  ,it rose in the streets till
 men might almost have been drowned  in 
it like a sea of solid foam4  ,and the  
people of the place told  me there had  
been no such thing seen in it in all    
recent records1  or perhaps in the      
records of all its four thousand years4 
,all this came later2 but for me at the 
moment1 looking at the scene  in so     
dreamy a fashion1 it seemed merely like 
a dramatic conclusion  to my dream4  ,it
 was but an accident confirming what was
 but an aspect4  ,but it confirmed it   
with a strange and almost supernatural  
completeness4  ,the white light out of  
the window in the north lay on all the  
roofs  and turrets of the mountain town2
 for there is an aspect in which  snow  
looks less like frozen water than like  
solidified light4  ,as the snow         

accumulated there accumulated also      
everywhere  those fantastic effects of  
frost which seem to fit in with  the    
fantastic qualities of medieval         
architecture2 and which  make an icicle 
seem like the mere extension of a       
gargoyle4  ,it was the atmosphere that  
has led so many romancers to make       
medieval ,paris a mere black and white  
study of night and snow4  ,something had
 redrawn in silver all things from the  
rude ornament  on the old gateways to   
the wrinkles on the ancient hills of    
,moab4  ,fields of white still spotted  
with green swept down into the valleys  
between us and the hills2 and high above
 them the ,holy ,city lifted  her head  
into the thunder-clouded heavens1       
wearing a white head-dress  like a      
daughter of the ,crusaders4             
,,chapter ,,iv    ,,the ,,philosophy    
,,of ,,sight-,,seeing    ,various       
cultivated critics told me that ,i      
should find  ,jerusalem disappointing2  
and ,i fear it will disappoint them that

 ,i  am not disappointed4  ,of the city 
as a city ,i shall try to say  something
 elsewhere2 but the things which these  
critics have  especially in mind are at 
once more general and more internal4    
,they concern something tawdry1 squalid 
or superstitious about the shrines  and 
those who use them4  ,now the mistake of
 critics is not that they  criticise the
 world2 it is that they never criticise 
themselves4  ,they compare the alien    
with the ideal2 but they do not at the  
same  time compare themselves with the  
ideal2 rather they identify  themselves 
with the ideal4  ,i have met a tourist  
who had seen  the great ,pyramid1 and   
who told me that the ,pyramid looked    
small4  ,believe me1 the tourist looked 
much smaller4  ,there is indeed another 
type of traveller1 who is not at all    
small in the moral mental sense1  who   
will confess such disappointments quite 
honestly1 as a piece  of realism about  
his own sensations4  ,in that case he   
generally suffers  from the defect of   

most realists2 that of not being        
realistic enough4  ,he does not really  
think out his own impressions           
thoroughly2  or he would generally find 
they are not so disappointing after all4
  ,a humorous soldier told me that he   
came from ,derbyshire1 and that  he did 
not think much of the ,pyramid because  
it was not so tall  as the ,peak4  ,i   
pointed out to him that he was really   
offering  the tallest possible tribute  
to a work of man in comparing it  to a  
mountain2 even if he thought it was a   
rather small mountain4  ,i suggested    
that it was a rather large tombstone4   
,i appealed  to those with whom ,i      
debated in that district1 as to whether 
they  would not be faintly surprised to 
find such a monument during  their quiet
 rambles in a country churchyard4  ,i   
asked whether  each one of them1 if he  
had such a tombstone in the family1     
would not feel it natural1 if hardly    
necessary1 to point it out2  and that   
with a certain pride4  ,the same        

principle of the higher realism  applies
 to those who are disappointed with the 
sight of the ,sphinx4  ,the ,sphinx     
really exceeds expectations because it  
escapes expectations4  ,monuments       
commonly look impressive when they are  
high and often  when they are distant4  
,the ,sphinx is really unexpected1      
because it is found suddenly in a       
hollow1 and unnaturally near4  ,its face
 is turned away2 and the effect is as   
creepy as coming into a room  apparently
 empty1 and finding somebody as still as
 the furniture4  ,or it is as if one    
found a lion couchant in that hole in   
the sand2  as indeed the buried part of 
the monster is in the form of a         
couchant lion4  ,if it was a real lion  
it would hardly be less  arresting      
merely because it was near2 nor could   
the first emotion  of the traveller be  
adequately described as disappointment4 
,in such cases there is generally some  
profit in looking at the monument  a    
second time1 or even at our own         

sensations a second time4  ,so ,i       
reasoned1 striving with wild critics in 
the wilderness2  but the only part of   
the debate which is relevant here can   
be expressed in the statement that ,i do
 think the ,pyramid big1  for the deep  
and simple reason that it is bigger than
 ,i am4  ,i delicately suggested to     
those who were disappointed in the      
,sphinx  that it was just possible that 
the ,sphinx was disappointed in them4   
,the ,sphinx has seen ,julius ,caesar2  
it has very probably seen ,st4 ,francis1
  when he brought his flaming charity to
 ,egypt2 it has certainly looked1  in   
the first high days of the revolutionary
 victories1 on the face  of the young   
,napoleon4  ,is it not barely possible1 
,i hinted  to my friends and            
fellow-tourists1 that after these       
experiences1  it might be a little      
depressed at the sight of you and me8   
,but as ,i say1 ,i only reintroduce my  
remarks in connection with a  greater   
matter than these dead things of the    

desert2 in connection  with a tomb to   
which even the ,pyramids are but titanic
 lumber1  and a presence greater than   
the ,sphinx1 since it is not only a     
riddle  but an answer4    ,before ,i go 
on to deeper defences of any such cult  
or culture1  ,i wish first to note a    
sort of test for the first impressions  
of an ordinary tourist like myself1 to  
whom much that is really full  of an    
archaic strength may seem merely stiff1 
or much that really  deals with a deep  
devotional psychology may seem merely   
distorted4  ,in short ,i would put      
myself in the position of the educated  
,englishman who does quite honestly     
receive a mere impression  of idolatry4 
,incidentally1 ,i may remark1 it is the 
educated  ,englishman who is the        
idolater4  ,it is he who only reverences
  the place1 and does not reverence the 
reverence for the place4  ,it is he who 
is supremely concerned about whether a  
mere object  is old or new1 or whether a
 mere ornament is gold or gilt4  ,in    

other words1 it is he who values the    
visible things rather  than the         
invisible2 for no sane man can doubt    
that invisible things  are vivid to the 
priests and pilgrims of these shrines4  
,in the midst of emotions that have     
moved the whole world out  of its       
course1 girt about with crowds who will 
die or do murder  for a definition1 the 
educated ,english gentleman in his      
blindness  bows down to wood and stone4 
,for the only thing wrong about that    
admirable man is that he is blind about 
himself4    ,no man will really attempt 
to describe his feelings1 when he first 
stood at the gateway of the grave of    
,christ4  ,the only record relevant     
here is that ,i did not feel the        
reaction1 not to say repulsion1  that   
many seem to have felt about its formal 
surroundings4    ,either ,i was         
particularly fortunate or others are    
particularly fastidious4  ,the guide who
 showed me the ,sepulchre  was not      
particularly noisy or profane or        

palpably mercenary2  he was rather more 
than less sympathetic than the same sort
 of man  who might have shown me        
,westminster ,abbey or                  
,stratford-on-,avon4 ,he  was a small1  
solemn1 owlish old man1 a ,roman        
,catholic in religion2  but so far from 
deserving the charge of not knowing the 
,bible1  he deserved rather a gentle    
remonstrance against his assumption     
that nobody else knew it4  ,if there was
 anything to smile at1  in associations 
so sacred1 it was the elaborate         
simplicity with  which he told the first
 facts of the ,gospel story1 as if he   
were  evangelising a savage4  ,anyhow1  
he did not talk like a cheap-jack  at a 
stall2 but rather like a teacher in an  
infant school4  ,he made it very clear  
that ,jesus ,christ was crucified in    
case  any one should suppose he was     
beheaded2 and often stopped in his      
narrative to repeat that the hero of    
these events was ,jesus ,christ1  lest  
we should fancy it was ,nebuchadnezzar  

or the ,duke of ,wellington4  ,i do not 
in the least mind being amused at this2 
but ,i have no reason  whatever for     
doubting that he may have been a better 
man than ,i4 ,i  gave him what ,i should
 have given a similar guide in my own   
country2  ,i parted from him as politely
 as from one of my own countrymen4  ,i  
also1 of course1 gave money1 as is the  
custom1 to the various monastic         
custodians of the shrines2 but ,i see   
nothing surprising about that4  ,i am   
not quite so ignorant as not to know    
that without the monastic  brotherhoods1
 supported by such charity1 there would 
not by this  time be anything to see in 
,jerusalem at all4  ,there was only one 
class of men whose consistent concern   
was to watch these things1  from the age
 of heathens and heresies to the age of 
,turks and tourists2  and ,i am         
certainly not going to sneer at them for
 doing no practical work1  and then     
refuse to pay them for the practical    
work they do4  ,for the rest1 even the  

architectural defacement is overstated1 
the church was burned down and rebuilt  
in a bad and modern period2  but the    
older parts1 especially the ,crusaders' 
porch1 are as  grand as the men who made
 them4  ,the incongruities there are1   
are those of local colour4  ,in         
connection1 by the way1 with what ,i    
said about beasts of burden1 ,i mounted 
a series of steep staircases  to the    
roof of the convent beside the ,holy    
,sepulchre4  ,when ,i got  to the top ,i
 found myself in the placid presence of 
two camels4  ,it would be curious to    
meet two cows on the roof of a village  
church4  ,nevertheless it is the only   
moral of the chapter interpolated here1 
that we can meet things quite as curious
 in our own country4    ,when the critic
 says that ,jerusalem is disappointing  
he generally  means that the popular    
worship there is weak and degraded1  and
 especially that the religious art is   
gaudy and grotesque4  ,in so far as     
there is any kind of truth in this1 it  

is  still true that the critic seldom   
sees the whole truth4  ,what is wrong   
with the critic is that he does not     
criticise himself4  ,he does not        
honestly compare what is weak1 in this  
particular world  of ideas1 with what is
 weak in his own world of ideas4  ,i    
will take  an example from my own       
experience1 and in a manner at my own   
expense4  ,if ,i have a native heath it 
is certainly ,kensington ,high ,street1 
off which stands the house of my        
childhood4  ,i grew up in that          
thorough-fare which ,mr4 ,max ,beerbohm1
 with his usual easy exactitude  of     
phrase1 has described as dapper1 with a 
leaning to the fine arts4  ,dapper was  
never perhaps a descriptive term for    
myself2  but it is quite true that ,i   
owe a certain taste for the arts  to the
 sort of people among whom ,i was       
brought up4  ,it is also true  that such
 a taste1 in various forms and degrees1 
was fairly common  in the world which   
may be symbolised as ,kensington ,high  

,street4  ,and whether or no it is a    
tribute1 it is certainly a truth that   
most  people with an artistic turn in   
,kensington ,high ,street would have    
been  very much shocked1 in their sense 
of propriety1 if they had seen  the     
popular shrines of ,jerusalem2 the sham 
gold1 the garish colours1  the fantastic
 tales and the feverish tumult4  ,but   
what ,i want such  people to do1 and    
what they never do1 is to turn this     
truth round4  ,i want them to imagine1  
not a ,kensington aesthete walking down 
,david ,street to the ,holy ,sepulchre1 
but a ,greek monk or a ,russian  pilgrim
 walking down ,kensington ,high ,street 
to ,kensington ,gardens4  ,i will not   
insist here on all the hundred plagues  
of plutocracy  that would really        
surprise such a ,christian peasant2     
especially that  curse of an irreligious
 society 7unknown in religious          
societies1  ,moslem as well as          
,christian7 the detestable denial of all
 dignity  to the poor4  ,i am not       

speaking now of moral but of artistic   
things2  of the concrete arts and crafts
 used in popular worship4  ,well1 my    
imaginary pilgrim would walk past       
,kensington ,gardens till  his sight was
 blasted by a prodigy4  ,he would either
 fall on his  knees as before a shrine1 
or cover his face as from a sacrilege4  
,he would have seen the ,albert         
,memorial4  ,there is nothing so        
conspicuous  in ,jerusalem4  ,there is  
nothing so gilded and gaudy in          
,jerusalem4  ,above all1 there is       
nothing in ,jerusalem that is on so     
large  a scale and at the same time in  
so gay and glittering a style4  ,my     
simple ,eastern ,christian would almost 
certainly be driven to  cry aloud1 ,to  
what superhuman ,god was this enormous  
temple erected8  ,i hope it is ,christ2 
but ,i fear it is ,antichrist4  ,such1  
he would think1  might well be the great
 and golden image of the ,prince of the 
,world1  set up in this great open space
 to receive the heathen prayers  and    

heathen sacrifices of a lost humanity4  
,i fancy he would feel  a desire to be  
at home again amid the humble shrines of
 ,zion4  ,i really cannot imagine what  
he would feel1 if he were told  that the
 gilded idol was neither a god nor a    
demon1 but a petty  ,german prince who  
had some slight influence in turning us 
into  the tools of ,prussia4    ,now ,i 
myself1 ,i cheerfully admit1 feel that  
enormity in ,kensington ,gardens  as    
something quite natural4  ,i feel it so 
because ,i have been  brought up1 so to 
speak1 under its shadow2 and stared at  
the graven  images of ,raphael and      
,shakespeare almost before ,i knew their
 names2  and long before ,i saw anything
 funny in their figures being carved1   
on a smaller scale1 under the feet of   
,prince ,albert4  ,i even took a certain
 childish pleasure in the gilding of    
the canopy and spire1 as if in the      
golden palace of what was1  to ,peter   
,pan and all children1 something of a   
fairy garden4  ,so do the ,christians of

 ,jerusalem take pleasure1 and possibly 
a childish pleasure1 in the gilding of a
 better palace1  besides a nobler       
garden1 ornamented with a somewhat      
worthier aim4  ,but the point is that   
the people of ,kensington1 whatever they
 might  think about the ,holy           
,sepulchre1 do not think anything at all
 about  the ,albert ,memorial4  ,they   
are quite unconscious of how strange  a 
thing it is2 and that simply because    
they are used to it4  ,the religious    
groups in ,jerusalem are also accustomed
 to their  coloured background2 and they
 are surely none the worse if they still
  feel rather more of the meaning of the
 colours4  ,it may be said that  they   
retain their childish illusion about    
their ,albert ,memorial4  ,i confess ,i 
cannot manage to regard ,palestine as a 
place where a  special curse was laid on
 those who can become like little       
children4  ,and ,i never could          
understand why such critics who agree   
that the kingdom of heaven is for       

children1 should forbid it  to be the   
only sort of kingdom that children would
 really like2  a kingdom with real      
crowns of gold or even of tinsel4  ,but 
that is another question1 which ,i shall
 discuss in another place2  the point is
 for the moment that such people would  
be quite as much  surprised at the place
 of tinsel in our lives as we are at its
 place  in theirs4  ,if we are critical 
of the petty things they do to glorify  
great things1 they would find quite as  
much to criticise 7as in  ,kensington   
,gardens7 in the great things we do to  
glorify petty things4  ,and if we wonder
 at the way in which they seem to gild  
the lily1  they would wonder quite as   
much at the way we gild the weed4       
,there are countless other examples of  
course of this principle  of            
self-criticism1 as the necessary        
condition of all criticism4  ,it applies
 quite as much1 for instance1 to the    
other great complaint  which my         
,kensington friend would make after the 

complaint about  paltry ornament2 the   
complaint about what is commonly called 
backsheesh4  ,here again there is really
 something to complain of2 though much  
of  the fault is not due to ,jerusalem1 
but rather to ,london and ,new ,york4   
,the worst superstition of ,jerusalem1  
like the worst profligacy  of ,paris1 is
 a thing so much invented for           
,anglo-,saxons that it might  be called 
an ,anglo-,saxon institution4  ,but here
 again the critic  could only really    
judge fairly if he realised with what   
abuses  at home he ought really to      
compare this particular abuse abroad4   
,he ought to imagine1 for example1 the  
feelings of a religious  ,russian       
peasant if he really understood all the 
highly-coloured  advertisements covering
 ,high ,street ,kensington ,station4    
,it is really not so repulsive to see   
the poor asking for money  as to see the
 rich asking for more money4  ,and      
advertisement is  the rich asking for   
more money4  ,a man would be annoyed if 

he found  himself in a mob of           
millionaires1 all holding out their silk
 hats  for a penny2 or all shouting with
 one voice1 ,give me money4  ,yet       
advertisement does really assault the   
eye very much as such a shout  would    
assault the ear4  ,budge's ,boots are   
the ,best simply means  ,give me money2 
,use ,seraphic ,soap simply means ,give 
me money4  ,it is a complete mistake to 
suppose that common people make our     
towns commonplace1 with unsightly things
 like advertisements4  ,most of those   
whose wares are thus placarded          
everywhere are very wealthy  gentlemen  
with coronets and country seats1 men who
 are probably  very particular about the
 artistic adornment of their own homes4 
,they disfigure their towns in order to 
decorate their houses4  ,to see such men
 crowding and clamouring for more wealth
 would  really be a more unworthy sight 
than a scramble of poor guides2  yet    
this is what would be conveyed by all   
the glare of gaudy  advertisement to    

anybody who saw and understood it for   
the first time4  ,yet for us who are    
familiar with it all that gaudy         
advertisement  fades into a background1 
just as the gaudy oriental patterns     
fade into a background for those        
oriental priests and pilgrims4  ,just as
 the innocent ,kensington gentleman is  
wholly unaware  that his black top hat  
is relieved against a background1  or   
encircled as by a halo1 of a yellow     
hoarding about mustard1  so is the poor 
guide sometimes unaware that his small  
doings are  dark against the fainter and
 more fading gold in which are traced   
only the humbler haloes of the ,twelve  
,apostles4    ,but all these            
misunderstandings are merely convenient 
illustrations and  introductions1       
leading up to the great fact of the main
 misunderstanding4  ,it is a            
misunderstanding of the whole history   
and philosophy  of the position2 that is
 the whole of the story and the whole   
moral of the story4  ,the critic of the 

,christianity of ,jerusalem             
emphatically manages to miss the point4 
,the lesson he ought to  learn from it  
is one which the ,western and modern man
 needs most1  and does not even know    
that he needs4  ,it is the lesson of    
constancy4  ,these people may decorate  
their temples with gold or with tinsel2 
but their tinsel has lasted longer than 
our gold4  ,they may build things as    
costly and ugly as the ,albert          
,memorial2  but the thing remains a     
memorial1 a thing of immortal memory4   
,they do not build it for a passing     
fashion and then forget it1  or try hard
 to forget it4  ,they may paint a       
picture of a saint as gaudy  as any     
advertisement of a soap2 but one saint  
does not drive out another  saint as one
 soap drives out another soap4  ,they do
 not forget their  recent idolatries1 as
 the educated ,english are now trying to
 forget  their very recent idolatry of  
everything ,german4  ,these ,christian  
bodies have been in ,jerusalem for at   

least fifteen hundred years4  ,save for 
a few years after the time of           
,constantine and a few years after  the 
,first ,crusade1 they have been         
practically persecuted all the time4    
,at least they have been under heathen  
masters whose attitude towards          
,christendom was hatred and whose type  
of government was despotism4  ,no man   
living in the ,west can form the        
faintest conception  of what it must    
have been to live in the very heart of  
the ,east  through the long and         
seemingly everlasting epoch of ,moslem  
power4  ,a man in ,jerusalem was in the 
centre of the ,turkish ,empire as a man 
in ,rome was in the centre of the ,roman
 ,empire4  ,the imperial power  of      
,islam stretched away to the sunrise and
 the sunset2 westward to  the mountains 
of ,spain and eastward towards the wall 
of ,china4  ,it must have seemed as if  
the whole earth belonged to ,mahomet to 
those  who in this rocky city renewed   
their hopeless witness to ,christ4      

,what we have to ask ourselves is not   
whether we happen in  all respects to   
agree with them1 but whether we in the  
same  condition should even have the    
courage to agree with ourselves4  ,it is
 not a question of how much of their    
religion is superstition1  but of how   
much of our religion is convention2 how 
much is custom  and how much a          
compromise even with custom2 how much a 
thing made facile  by the security of   
our own society or the success of our   
own state4  ,these are powerful         
supports2 and the enlightened           
,englishman1  from a cathedral town or a
 suburban chapel1 walks these wild      
,eastern places with a certain sense of 
assurance and stability4  ,even after   
centuries of ,turkish supremacy1 such a 
man feels1  he would not have descended 
to such a credulity4  ,he would  not be 
fighting for the ,holy ,fire or         
wrangling with beggars  in the ,holy    
,sepulchre4  ,he would not be hanging   
fantastic  lamps on a pillar peculiar to

 the ,armenians1 or peering into  the   
gilded cage that contains the brown     
,madonna of the ,copts4  ,he would not  
be the dupe of such degenerate fables2  
,god forbid4  ,he would not be          
grovelling at such grotesque shrines2 no
 indeed4  ,he would be many hundred     
yards away1 decorously bowing towards  a
 more distant city2 where1 above the    
only formal and official  open place in 
,jerusalem1 the mighty mosaics of the   
,mosque of ,omar  proclaim across the   
valleys the victory and the glory of    
,mahomet4    ,that is the real lesson   
that the enlightened traveller should   
learn2  the lesson about himself4  ,that
 is the test that should really be put  
to those who say that the ,christianity 
of ,jerusalem is degraded4  ,after a    
thousand years of ,turkish tyranny1 the 
religion of a ,london  fashionable      
preacher would not be degraded4  ,it    
would be destroyed4  ,it would not be   
there at all1 to be jeered at by every  
prosperous tourist  out of a train de   

luxe4  ,it is worth while to pause upon 
the point2  for nothing has been so     
wholly missed in our modern religious   
ideals as the ideal of tenacity4        
,fashion is called progress4  ,every new
 fashion is called a new faith4  ,every 
faith is a faith  which offers          
everything except faithfulness4  ,it was
 never so necessary  to insist that most
 of the really vital and valuable ideas 
in the world1  including ,christianity1 
would never have survived at all if they
  had not survived their own death1 even
 in the sense of dying daily4  ,the     
ideal was out of date almost from the   
first day2  that is why it is eternal2  
for whatever is dated is doomed4  ,as   
for our own society1 if it proceeds at  
its present rate of progress  and       
improvement1 no trace or memory of it   
will be left at all4  ,some think that  
this would be an improvement in itself4 
,we have come  to live morally1 as the  
,japs live literally1 in houses of      
paper4  ,but they are pavilions made of 

the morning papers1 which have to be    
burned on the appearance of the evening 
editions4  ,well1 a thousand  years     
hence the ,japs may be ruling in        
,jerusalem2 the modern ,japs who  no    
longer live in paper houses1 but in     
sweated factories and slums4  ,they and 
the ,chinese 7that much more dignified  
and democratic people7  seem to be about
 the only people of importance who have 
not yet  ruled ,jerusalem4  ,but though 
we may think the ,christian chapels  as 
thin as ,japanese tea-houses1 they will 
still be ,christian2  though we may     
think the sacred lamps as cheap as      
,chinese lanterns1  they will still be  
burning before a crucified creator of   
the world4    ,but besides this need of 
making strange cults the test not of    
themselves but ourselves1 the sights of 
,jerusalem also illustrate  the other   
suggestion about the philosophy of      
sight-seeing4 ,it is true1  as ,i have  
suggested1 that after all the ,sphinx is
 larger than ,i am2  and on the same    

principle the painted saints are        
saintlier  than ,i am1 and the patient  
pilgrims more constant than ,i am4  ,but
 it is also true1 as in the lesser      
matter before mentioned1  that even     
those who think the ,sphinx small       
generally do not  notice the small      
things about it4  ,they do not even     
discover  what is interesting about     
their own disappointment4  ,and         
similarly  even those who are truly     
irritated by the unfamiliar fashions  of
 worship in a place like ,jerusalem1 do 
not know how to discover  what is       
interesting in the very existence of    
what is irritating4  ,for instance1 they
 talk of ,byzantine decay or barbaric   
delusion1  and they generally go away   
with an impression that the ritual  and 
symbolism is something dating from the  
,dark ,ages4  ,but if they would really 
note the details of their surroundings1 
or even of their sensations1 they would 
observe a rather curious fact  about    
such ornament of such places as the     

,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre  as may 
really be counted unworthy of them4     
,they would realise  that what they     
would most instinctively reject as      
superstitious does  not date from what  
they would regard as the ages of        
superstition4  ,there really are bad    
pictures but they are not barbaric      
pictures2  they are florid pictures in  
the last faded realism of the           
,renascence4  ,there really is stiff and
 ungainly decoration1 but it is not  the
 harsh or ascetic decoration of a       
,spanish cloister2 it is much  more like
 the pompous yet frivolous decorations  
of a ,parisian hotel4  ,in short1 in so 
far as the shrine has really been       
defaced it  has not been defaced by the 
,dark ,ages1 but rather if anything  by 
the ,age of ,reason4  ,it is the        
enlightened eighteenth century1  which  
regarded itself as the very noonday of  
natural culture  and common sense1 that 
has really though indirectly laid its   
disfiguring finger on the dark but      

dignified ,byzantine temple4  ,i do not 
particularly mind it myself2 for in such
 great matters ,i  do not think taste is
 the test4  ,but if taste is to be made 
the test1  there is matter for momentary
 reflection in this fact2 for it  is    
another example of the weakness of what 
may be called fashion4  ,voltaire1 ,i   
believe1 erected a sort of temple to    
,god in his own garden2  and we may be  
sure that it was in the most exquisite  
taste of the time4  ,nothing would have 
surprised him more than to learn that1  
fifty years after the success of the    
,french ,revolution1 almost every       
freethinker of any artistic taste would 
think his temple far less  artistically 
admirable than the nearest gargoyle on  
,notre ,dame4  ,thus it is progress that
 must be blamed for most of these       
things3  and we ought not to turn away  
in contempt from something antiquated1  
but rather recognise with respect and   
even alarm a sort of permanent  man-trap
 in the idea of being modern4  ,so that 

the moral of this  matter is the same as
 that of the other2 that these things   
should  raise in us1 not merely the     
question of whether we like them1  but  
of whether there is anything very       
infallible or imperishable  about what  
we like4  ,at least the essentials of   
these things endure2  and if they seem  
to have remained fixed as effigies1 at  
least they  have not faded like         
fashion-plates4    ,it has seemed worth 
while to insert here this note on the   
philosophy  of sight-seeing1 however    
dilatory or disproportionate it may     
seem4  ,for ,i am particularly and      
positively convinced that unless these  
things  can somehow or other be seen in 
the right historical perspective  and   
philosophical proportion1 they are not  
worth seeing at all4  ,and let me say in
 conclusion that ,i can not only respect
 the sincerity1  but understand the     
sentiments1 of a man who says they are  
not  worth seeing at all4  ,sight-seeing
 is a far more difficult and  disputable

 matter than many seem to suppose2 and a
 man refusing it  altogether might be a 
man of sense and even a man of          
imagination4  ,it was the great         
,wordsworth who refused to revisit      
,yarrow2  it was only the small         
,wordsworth who revisited it after all4 
,i remember the first great sight in my 
own entrance to the ,near ,east1  when  
,i looked by accident out of the train  
going to ,cairo1 and saw far  away      
across the luminous flats a faint       
triangular shape2 the ,pyramids4  ,i    
could understand a man who had seen it  
turning his back and retracing  his     
whole journey to his own country and his
 own home1 saying1 ,i will go  no       
further2 for ,i have seen afar off the  
last houses of the kings4  ,i can       
understand a man who had only seen in   
the distance ,jerusalem  sitting on the 
hill going no further and keeping that  
vision for ever4  ,it would1 of course1 
be said that it was absurd to come at   
all1  and to see so little4  ,to which  

,i answer that in that sense  it is     
absurd to come at all4  ,it is no more  
fantastic to turn  back for such a fancy
 than it was to come for a similar      
fancy4  ,a man cannot eat the ,pyramids2
 he cannot buy or sell the ,holy ,city2 
there can be no practical aspect either 
of his coming or going4  ,if he has not 
come for a poetic mood he has come for  
nothing2 if he has  come for such a     
mood1 he is not a fool to obey that     
mood4  ,the way  to be really a fool is 
to try to be practical about unpractical
 things4  ,it is to try to collect      
clouds or preserve moonshine like money4
  ,now there is much to be said for the 
view that to search for a mood  is in   
its nature moonshine4  ,it may be said  
that this is especially  true in the    
crowded and commonplace conditions in   
which most  sight-seeing has to be done4
  ,it may be said that thirty tourists  
going together to see a tombstone is    
really as ridiculous as thirty  poets   
going together to write poems about the 

nightingale4  ,there would be something 
rather depressing about a crowd  of     
travellers1 walking over hill and dale  
after the celebrated  cloud of          
,wordsworth2 especially if the crowd is 
like the cloud1  and moveth all together
 if it move at all4  ,a vast mob        
assembled  on ,salisbury ,plain to      
listen to ,shelley's skylark would      
probably  7after an hour or two7        
consider it a rather subdued sort of    
skylarking4  ,it may be argued that it  
is just as illogical to hope to fix     
beforehand  the elusive effects of the  
works of man as of the works of nature4 
,it may be called a contradiction in    
terms to expect the unexpected4  ,it may
 be counted mere madness to anticipate  
astonishment1 or go  in search of a     
surprise4  ,to all of which there is    
only one answer2  that such anticipation
 is absurd1 and such realisation will   
be disappointing1 that images will seem 
to be idols and idols  will seem to be  
dolls1 unless there be some rudiment of 

such  a habit of mind as ,i have tried  
to suggest in this chapter4  ,no great  
works will seem great1 and no wonders of
 the world  will seem wonderful1 unless 
the angle from which they are seen  is  
that of historical humility4    ,one    
more word may be added of a more        
practical sort4  ,the place where  the  
most passionate convictions on this     
planet are concentrated is not  one     
where it will always be wise1 even from 
a political standpoint1  to air our     
plutocratic patronage and our sceptical 
superiority4  ,strange scenes have      
already been enacted round that fane    
where the  ,holy ,fire bursts forth to  
declare that ,christ is risen2 and      
whether  or no we think the thing holy  
there is no doubt about it being fiery4 
,whether or no the superior person is   
right to expect the unexpected1  it is  
possible that something may be revealed 
to him that he really  does not expect4 
,and whatever he may think about the    
philosophy  of sight-seeing1 it is not  

unlikely that he may see some sights4   
,,chapter ,v    ,,the ,,streets ,,of    
,,the ,,city    ,when ,jerusalem had    
been half buried in snow for two or     
three days1  ,i remarked to a friend    
that ,i was prepared henceforward to    
justify  all the ,christmas cards4  ,the
 cards that spangle ,bethlehem with     
frost  are generally regarded by the    
learned merely as vulgar lies4  ,at best
 they are regarded as popular fictions1 
like that which made  the shepherds in  
the ,nativity ,play talk a broad dialect
 of ,somerset4  ,in the deepest sense of
 course this democratic tradition is    
truer  than most history4  ,but even in 
the cruder and more concrete sense the  
tradition about the ,december snow is   
not quite so false as is suggested4  ,it
 is not a mere local illusion for       
,englishmen to picture  the ,holy ,child
 in a snowstorm1 as it would be for the 
,londoners  to picture him in a ,london 
fog4  ,there can be snow in ,jerusalem1 
and there might be snow in ,bethlehem2  

and when we penetrate to the idea       
behind the image1 we find it is not only
 possible but probable4  ,in ,palestine1
 at least in these mountainous parts of 
,palestine1  men have the same general  
sentiment about the seasons as in the   
,west  or the ,north4  ,snow is a       
rarity1 but winter is a reality4        
,whether we regard it as the divine     
purpose of a mystery or the human       
purpose of a myth1 the purpose of       
putting such a feast in winter  would be
 just the same in ,bethlehem as it would
 be in ,balham4  ,any one thinking of   
the ,holy ,child as born in ,december   
would mean  by it exactly what we mean  
by it2 that ,christ is not merely a     
summer  sun of the prosperous but a     
winter fire for the unfortunate4    ,in 
other words1 the semi-tropical nature of
 the place1 like its  vulgarity and     
desecration1 can be1 and are1 enormously
 exaggerated4  ,but it is always hard to
 correct the exaggeration without       
exaggerating  the correction4  ,it would

 be absurd seriously to deny that       
,jerusalem  is an ,eastern town2 but we 
may say it was ,westernised without     
being modernised4  ,anyhow1 it was      
medievalised before it was modernised4  
,and in the same way it would be absurd 
to deny that ,jerusalem  is a ,southern 
town1 in the sense of being normally out
 of the way  of snowstorms1 but the     
truth can be suggested by saying that it
  has always known the quality of snow1 
but not the quantity4  ,and the quantity
 of snow that fell on this occasion     
would have  been something striking and 
even sensational in ,sussex or ,kent4   
,and yet another way of putting the     
proportions of the thing would  be to   
say that ,jerusalem has been besieged   
more often and by more  different kinds 
of people than any town upon the globe2 
that it has  been besieged by ,jews and 
,assyrians1 ,egyptians and ,babylonians1
 ,greeks  and ,romans1 ,persians and    
,saracens1 ,frenchmen and ,englishmen2  
but perhaps never before in all its     

agony of ages has it ever really  been  
besieged by winter4  ,in this case it   
was not only snowed on1  it was snowed  
up4    ,for some days the city was      
really in a state of siege4  ,if the    
snow had held for a sufficient number of
 days it might have  been in a state of 
famine4  ,the railway failed between    
,jerusalem  and the nearest station4    
,the roads were impassable between      
,jerusalem and the nearest village1 or  
even the nearest suburb4  ,in some      
places the snow drifted deep enough to  
bury a man1  and in some places1 alas1  
it did actually bury little children2   
poor little ,arabs whose bodies were    
stiff where they had fallen4  ,many     
mules were overwhelmed as if by floods1 
and countless trees struck  down as if  
by lightning4  ,even when the snow began
 at last to melt it  only threatened to 
turn the besieged fortress into a sort  
of island4  ,a river that men could not 
ford flowed between ,jerusalem and the  
,mount  of ,olives4  ,even a man walking

 about the ordinary streets could easily
  step up to his knees or up to his     
waist4  ,snow stood about like a new    
system of natural barricades reared in  
some new type of revolution4  ,i have   
already remarked that what struck me    
most about the city was  the city wall2 
but now a new white wall stood all round
 the city2  and one that neither friend 
nor foe could pass4    ,but a state of  
siege1 whatever its inconveniences1  is 
exceedingly convenient for a critic and 
observer of the town4  ,it concentrated 
all that impression of being something  
compact and what1  with less tragic     
attendant circumstances1 one might call 
cosy4  ,it fixed the whole picture in a 
frame even more absolute than  the city 
wall2 and it turned the eyes of all     
spectators inwards4  ,above all1 by its 
very abnormality it accentuated the     
normal  divisions and differences of the
 place2 and made it more possible  to   
distinguish and describe them like      
dramatis personae4  ,the parts they     

played in the crisis of the snow were   
very like  the parts they played in the 
general crisis of the state4  ,and the  
very cut and colour of the figures1     
turban and tarbouch1  khaki and burnous 
and gabardine1 seemed to stand out more 
sharply  against that blank background  
of white4    ,the first fact of course  
was a fact of contrast4  ,when ,i said  
that  the city struck me in its historic
 aspect as being at least as much  a    
memory of the ,crusaders as of the      
,saracens1 ,i did not of course mean  to
 deny the incidental contrasts between  
this ,southern civilisation  and the    
civilisation of ,europe1 especially     
northern ,europe4  ,the immediate       
difference was obvious enough when the  
gold and  the gaudy vegetation of so    
comparatively ,asiatic a city were      
struck  by this strange blast out of the
 ,north4  ,it was a queer spectacle  to 
see a great green palm bowed down under 
a white load of snow2  and it was a     
stranger and sadder spectacle to see the

 people accustomed  to live under such  
palm-trees bowed down under such        
unearthly storms4  ,yet the very manner 
in which they bore it is perhaps the    
first fact  to be noted among all the   
facts that make up the puzzling problem 
of ,jerusalem4  ,odd as it may sound you
 can see that the true ,orientals  are  
not familiar with snow by the very fact 
that they accept it4  ,they accept it as
 we should accept being swallowed by an 
earthquake2  because we do not know the 
answer to an earthquake4  ,the men from 
the  desert do not know the answer to   
the snow1 it seems to them unanswerable4
  ,but ,christians fight with snow in a 
double sense2 they fight with  snow as  
they fight with snowballs4  ,a ,moslem  
left to himself would  no more play with
 a snowball than make a toy of a        
thunderbolt4  ,and this is really a type
 of the true problem that was raised  by
 the very presence of the ,english      
soldier in the street1  even if he was  
only shovelling away the snow4    ,it   

would be far from a bad thing1 ,i fancy1
 if the rights and wrongs  of these     
,bible countries could occasionally be  
translated into  ,bible language4  ,and 
,i suggest this here1 not in the least  
because it  is a religious language1 but
 merely because it is a simple language4
  ,it may be a good thing1 and in many  
ways it certainly is a good thing1  that
 the races native to the ,near ,east1 to
 ,egypt or ,arabia1  should come in     
contact with ,western culture2 but it   
will be  unfortunate if this only means 
coming in contact with ,western         
pedantry and even ,western hypocrisy4   
,as it is there is only too  much danger
 that the local complaints against the  
government may be  exactly like the     
official explanations of the government2
 that is1  mere strings of long words   
with very little meaning involved4  ,in 
short1 if people are to learn to talk   
,english it will be a refreshing        
finishing touch to their culture if they
 learn to talk plain ,english4  ,of this

 it would be hard to find a better      
working model than what may be  called  
scriptural ,english4  ,it would be a    
very good thing for everybody  concerned
 if any really unjust or unpopular      
official were described  only in terms  
taken from the denunciations of ,jezebel
 and ,herod4  ,it would especially be a 
good thing for the official4  ,if it    
were true  it would be appropriate1 and 
if it were untrue it would be absurd4   
,when people are really oppressed1 their
 condition can generally  be described  
in very plain terms connected with very 
plain things2  with bread1 with land1   
with taxes and children and churches4   
,if imperialists and capitalists do thus
 oppress them1 as they  most certainly  
often do1 then the condition of those   
more powerful  persons can also be      
described in few and simple words2 such 
as  crime and sin and death and hell4   
,but when complaints are made1  as they 
are sometimes in ,palestine and still   
more in ,egypt1  in the elaborate and   

long-winded style of a leading article1 
the sympathetic ,european is apt to     
remember how very little confidence  he 
has ever felt in his own leading        
articles4  ,if an ,arab comes  to me and
 says1 ,the stranger from across the sea
 has taxed me1  and taken the           
corn-sheaves from the field of my       
fathers1 ,i do really  feel that he     
towers over me and my perishing         
industrial civilisation  with a terrible
 appeal to eternal things4  ,i feel he  
is a figure  more enduring than a       
statue1 like the figure of ,naboth or of
 ,nathan4  ,but when that simple son of 
the desert opens his mouth and says1    
,the self-determination of proletarian  
class-conscious solidarity  as it       
functions for international             
reconstruction1 and so on1  why then ,i 
must confess to the weakness of feeling 
my sympathies  instantly and strangely  
chilled4  ,i merely feel inclined to    
tell him  that ,i can talk that sort of 
pidgin ,english better than he can4  ,if

 he modelled himself on the great rebels
 and revolutionists  of the ,bible1 it  
would at least be a considerable        
improvement  in his literary style4     
,but as a matter of fact something much 
more solid is involved than literary    
style4  ,there is a logic  and justice  
in the distinction1 even in the world of
 ideas4  ,that most people with much    
more education than the ,arab1 and      
therefore  much less excuse than the    
,arab1 entirely ignore that distinction1
  is merely a result of their ignoring  
ideas1 and being satisfied  with long   
words4  ,they like democracy because it 
is a long word2  that is the only thing 
they do like about it4    ,people are   
entitled to self-government2 that is1 to
 such  government as is self-made4 ,they
 are not necessarily entitled  to a     
special and elaborate machinery that    
somebody else has made4  ,it is their   
right to make it for themselves1 but it 
is also their  duty to think of it for  
themselves4  ,self-government of a      

simple  kind has existed in numberless  
simple societies1 and ,i shall  always  
think it a horrible responsibility to   
interfere with it4  ,but representative 
government1 or theoretically            
representative government1  of an       
exceedingly complicated kind1 may exist 
in certain complicated  societies       
without their being bound to transfer it
 to others1  or even to admire it for   
themselves4  ,at any rate1 for good or  
evil1  they have invented it themselves4
  ,and there is a moral distinction1    
which is perfectly rational and         
democratic1 between such inventions  and
 the self-evident rights which no man   
can claim to have invented4  ,if the    
,arab says to me1 ,i don't care a curse 
for ,europe2 ,i demand bread1  the      
reproach is to me both true and         
terrible4  ,but if he says1  ,i don't   
care a curse for ,europe2 ,i demand     
,french cookery1  ,italian              
confectionery1 ,english audit ale1 and  
so on1 ,i think he is  rather an        

unreasonable ,arab4  ,after all1 we     
invented these things2  in auctore      
auctoritas4    ,and of this problem     
there is a sort of working model in the 
presence  of the snow in ,palestine1    
especially in the light of the old      
proverb  about the impossibility of snow
 in ,egypt4  ,palestine is wilder1  less
 wealthy and modernised1 more religious 
and therefore more realistic4  ,the     
issue between the things only a         
,european can do1 and the things  no    
,european has the right to do1 is much  
sharper and clearer  than the confusions
 of verbosity4  ,on the one hand the    
things  the ,english can do are more    
real things1 like clearing away the     
snow2  for the very reason that the     
,english are not here1 so to speak1     
building on a ,french pavement but on   
the bare rocks of the ,eastern wilds1   
the contact with ,islam and ,israel is  
more simple and direct4  ,and on the    
other side the discontents and revolts  
are more real4  ,so far from intending  

to suggest that the ,egyptians have no  
complaints1  ,i am very far from meaning
 that they have no wrongs4  ,but        
curiously  enough the wrongs seem to me 
more real than the complaints4  ,the    
real case against our ,egyptian         
adventure was stated long ago  by       
,randolph ,churchill1 when he denounced 
a bondholder's war2 it is  in the whole 
business of collecting debts due to     
cosmopolitan finance4  ,but a stranger  
in ,egypt hears little denunciation of  
cosmopolitan finance1  and a great deal 
of drivel in the way of cosmopolitan    
idealism4  ,when the ,palestinians say  
that usurers menace their land they mean
  the land they dig2 an old actuality   
and not a new abstraction4  ,their      
revolt may be right or wrong1 but it is 
real2  and what applies to their revolt 
applies to their religion4  ,there may  
well be doubts about whether ,egypt is a
 nation1 but there  is no doubt that    
,jerusalem is a city1 and the nations   
have come  to its light4    ,the problem

 of the snow proved indeed the text for 
a tale touching  the practical politics 
of the city4  ,the ,english soldiers    
cleared  the snow away2 the ,arabs sat  
down satisfied or stoical with  the snow
 blocking their own doors or loading    
their own roofs4  ,but the ,jews1 as the
 story went1 were at length persuaded to
 clear  away the snow in front of them1 
and then demanded a handsome  salary for
 having recovered the use of their own  
front doors4  ,the story is not quite   
fair2 and yet it is not so unfair as it 
seems4  ,any rational ,anti-,semite will
 agree that such tales1 even when they  
are true1 do not always signify an      
avaricious tradition in ,semitism1  but 
sometimes the healthier and more human  
suggestion of ,bolshevism4  ,the ,jews  
do demand high wages1 but it is not     
always because they  are in the old     
sense money-grabbers1 but rather in the 
new  sense money-grabbers 7as an enemy  
would put it7 men sincerely  and        
bitterly convinced of their right to the

 surplus of capitalism4  ,there is the  
same problem in the ,jewish colonies in 
the country districts2  in the ,jewish  
explanation of the employment of ,arab  
and ,syrian labour4  ,the ,jews argue   
that this occurs1 not because they wish 
to remain  idle capitalists1 but because
 they insist on being properly  paid    
proletarians4  ,with all this ,i shall  
deal1 however1 when ,i  treat of the    
,jewish problem itself4  ,the point for 
the moment  is that the episode of the  
snow did in a superficial way suggest   
the parts played by the three parties   
and the tales told about them4  ,to     
begin with1 it is right to say that the 
,english do a great many things1  as    
they clear away the snow1 simply because
 nobody else would do them4  ,they did  
save the oriental inhabitants from some 
of the worst  consequences of the       
calamity4  ,probably they sometimes save
  the inhabitants from something which  
the inhabitants do not  regard as a     
calamity4  ,it is the danger of all such

 foreign  efficiency that it often saves
 men who do not want to be saved4  ,but 
they do in many cases do things from    
which ,moslems profit1  but which       
,moslems by themselves would not        
propose1 let alone perform4  ,and this  
has a general significance even in our  
first survey1 for it  suggests a truth  
easy to abuse1 but ,i think impossible  
to ignore4  ,i mean that there is       
something non-political about ,moslem   
morality4  ,perverse as it may appear1  
,i suspect that most of their  political
 movements result from their            
non-political morality4  ,they become   
politicians because they know they are  
not political2  and feel their simple   
and more or less healthy life is at a   
disadvantage1  in face of the political 
supremacy of the ,english and the       
political  subtlety of the ,jews4       
,for instance1 the tradition of ,turkish
 rule is simply a joke4  ,all the       
stories about it are jokes1 and often   
very good jokes4  ,my own favourite     

incident is that which is still         
commemorated  in the ,english cathedral 
by an enormous hole in the floor4  ,the 
,turks dug up the pavement looking for  
concealed ,english artillery2  because  
they had been told that the bishop had  
given his blessing  to two canons4  ,the
 bishop had indeed recently appointed   
two canons  to the service of the       
,church1 but he had not secreted them   
under  the floor of the chancel4  ,there
 was another agreeable incident when    
the ,turkish authorities1 by an         
impulsive movement of religious         
toleration1  sent for a ,greek priest to
 bury ,greek soldiers1 and told him  to 
take his choice in a heap of corpses of 
all creeds and colours4  ,but at once   
the most curious and the most common    
touch of comedy  is the perpetual social
 introduction to solid and smiling      
citizens  who have been nearly hanged by
 the ,turks4  ,the fortunate gentleman  
seems still to be regarding his escape  
with a broad grin4  ,if you were        

introduced to a polite ,frenchman who   
had come straight  from the guillotine1 
or to an affable ,american who had only 
just  vacated the electrical chair1 you 
would feel a faint curiosity  about the 
whole story4  ,if a friend introduced   
somebody1 saying1  ,my friend ,robinson2
 his sentence has been commuted to penal
 servitude1  or ,my ,uncle ,william1    
just come from ,dartmoor ,prison1 your  
mind  and perhaps your lips would       
faintly form the syllables ,what for8   
,but evidently1 under ,turkish rule1    
being hanged was like  being knocked    
down by a cab2 it might happen to       
anybody4  ,this is a parenthesis1 since 
,i am only dealing here with the        
superficial experience of the streets1  
especially in the snow4  ,but it will be
 well to safeguard it by saying that    
this unpolitical  carelessness and      
comprehensiveness of the indiscriminate 
,turk had its  tragic as well as its    
comic side4  ,it was by no means        
everybody that  escaped hanging2 and    

there was a tree growing outside the    
,jaffa ,gate  at which men might still  
shudder as they pass it in the sunlight4
  ,it was what a modern revolutionary   
poet has called bitterly the ,tree  of  
,man's ,making2 and what a medieval     
revolutionary poet called  the fruit    
tree in the orchard of the king4  ,it   
was the gibbet2  and lives have dropped 
from it like leaves from a tree in      
autumn4  ,yet even on the sterner side1 
we can trace the truth about  the       
,moslem fatalism which seems so alien to
 political actuality4  ,there was a     
popular legend or proverb that this     
terrible tree  was in some way bound up 
with the power of the ,turk1 and perhaps
  the ,moslem over a great part of the  
earth4  ,there is nothing  more strange 
about that ,moslem fatalism than a      
certain gloomy  magnanimity which can   
invoke omens and oracles against itself4
  ,it is astonishing how often the      
,turks seem to have accepted a legend   
or prophecy about their own ultimate    

failure4  ,de ,quincey mentions  one of 
them in the blow that half broke the    
,palladium of ,byzantium4  ,it is said  
that the ,moslems themselves predict the
 entry  of a ,christian king of         
,jerusalem through the ,golden ,gate4   
,perhaps that is why they have blocked  
up the fatal gate2  but in any case they
 dealt in that fashion with the fatal   
tree4  ,they elaborately bound and      
riveted it with iron1 as if accepting   
the popular prophecy which declared that
 so long as it stood  the ,turkish      
,empire would stand4  ,it was as if the 
wicked man  of ,scripture had daily     
watered a green bay-tree1 to make sure  
that it should flourish4    ,in the last
 chapter ,i have attempted to suggest a 
background  of the battlemented walls   
with the low gates and narrow windows   
which seem to relieve the liveliest of  
the coloured groups against  the neutral
 tints of the ,north1 and how this was  
intensified  when the neutral tints were
 touched with the positive hue of snow4 

,in the same merely impressionist spirit
 ,i would here attempt to sketch  some  
of the externals of the actors in such a
 scene1 though it is  hard to do justice
 to such a picture even in the          
superficial matter  of the picturesque4 
,indeed it is hard to be sufficiently   
superficial2  for in the ,east nearly   
every external is a symbol4  ,the       
greater part of it is the gorgeous      
rag-heap of ,arabian humanity1  and even
 about that one could lecture on almost 
every coloured rag4  ,we hear much of   
the gaudy colours of the ,east2 but the 
most  striking thing about them is that 
they are delicate colours4  ,it is rare 
to see a red that is merely like a      
pillar-box1 or a blue  that is          
,reckitt's blue2 the red is sure to have
 the enrichment  of tawny wine or blood 
oranges1 and the blue of peacocks or the
 sea4  ,in short these people are       
artistic in the sense that used to be   
called aesthetic2 and it is a nameless  
instinct that preserves  these nameless 

tints4  ,like all such instincts1 it can
 be  blunted by a bullying rationalism2 
like all such children1  these people do
 not know why they prefer the better1   
and can  therefore be persuaded by      
sophists that they prefer the worst4    
,but there are other elements emerging  
from the coloured crowd1  which are more
 significant1 and therefore more        
stubborn4  ,a stranger entirely ignorant
 of that world would feel something     
like a chill to the blood when he first 
saw the black figures  of the veiled    
,moslem women1 sinister figures without 
faces4  ,it is as if in that world every
 woman were a widow4  ,when he realised 
that these were not the masked mutes at 
a very grisly funeral1  but merely      
ladies literally obeying a convention of
 wearing  veils in public1 he would     
probably have a reaction of laughter4   
,he would be disposed to say flippantly 
that it must be1 a dull life1  not only 
for the women but the men2 and that a   
man might well want  five wives if he   

had to marry them before he could even  
look at them4  ,but he will be wise not 
to be satisfied with such flippancy1    
for the complete veiling of the ,moslem 
women of ,jerusalem1  though not a finer
 thing than the freedom of the          
,christian woman  of ,bethlehem1 is     
almost certainly a finer thing than the 
more  coquettish compromise of the other
 ,moslem women of ,cairo4  ,it simply   
means that the ,moslem religion is here 
more sincerely observed2  and this in   
turn is part of something that a        
sympathetic person will  soon feel in   
,jerusalem1 if he has come from these   
more commercial  cities of the ,east2 a 
spiritual tone decidedly more delicate  
and dignified1 like the clear air about 
the mountain city4  ,whatever the human 
vices involved1 it is not altogether for
  nothing that this is the holy town of 
three great religions4  ,when all is    
said1 he will feel that there are some  
tricks that could  not be played1 some  
trades that could not be plied1 some    

shops  that could not be opened1 within 
a stone's throw of the ,sepulchre4      
,this indefinable seriousness has its   
own fantasies of fanaticism  or         
formalism2 but if these are vices they  
are not vulgarities4  ,there is no      
stronger example of this than the real  
,jews of ,jerusalem1  especially those  
from the ghettoes of eastern ,europe4   
,they can be immediately picked out by  
the peculiar wisps of hair worn  on each
 side of the face1 like something       
between curls and whiskers4  ,sometimes 
they look strangely effeminate1 like    
some rococo  burlesque of the ringlets  
of an ,early ,victorian woman4          
,sometimes they look considerably more  
like the horns of a devil2  and one need
 not be an ,anti-,semite to say that the
 face is often  made to match4  ,but    
though they may be ugly1 or even        
horrible1  they are not vulgar like the 
,jews at ,brighton2 they trail behind   
them too many primeval traditions and   
laborious loyalties1  along with their  

grand though often greasy robes of      
bronze  or purple velvet4  ,they often  
wear on their heads that odd  turban of 
fur worn by the ,rabbis in the pictures 
of ,rembrandt4  ,and indeed that great  
name is not irrelevant2 for the whole   
truth  at the back of ,zionism is in the
 difference between the picture  of a   
,jew by ,rembrandt and a picture of a   
,jew by ,sargent4  ,for ,rembrandt the  
,rabbi was1 in a special and double     
sense1  a distinguished figure4  ,he was
 something distinct from the world  of  
the artist1 who drew a ,rabbi as he     
would a ,brahmin4  ,but ,sargent  had to
 treat his sitters as solid citizens of 
,england or ,america2  and consequently 
his pictures are direct provocations to 
a pogrom4  ,but the light that          
,rembrandt loved falls not irreverently 
on  the strange hairy haloes that can   
still be seen on the shaven heads  of   
the ,jews of ,jerusalem4  ,and ,i should
 be sorry for any pogrom  that brought  
down any of their grey wisps or whiskers

 in sorrow  to the grave4    ,the whole 
scene indeed1 seriousness apart1 might  
be regarded as a  fantasia for barbers2 
for the different ways of dressing the  
hair  would alone serve as symbols of   
different races and religions4  ,thus   
the ,greek priests of the ,orthodox     
,church1 bearded and robed  in black    
with black towers upon their heads1 have
 for some  strange reason their hair    
bound up behind like a woman's4 ,in  any
 case they have in their pomp a touch of
 the bearded bulls  of ,assyrian        
sculpture2 and this strange fashion of  
curling if not  oiling the ,assyrian    
bull gives the newcomer an indescribable
 and  illogical impression of the       
unnatural sublimity of archaic art4  ,in
 the ,apocalypse somewhere there is an  
inspiringly unintelligible  allusion to 
men coming on the earth1 whose hair is  
like the hair  of women and their teeth 
like the teeth of lions4  ,i have never 
been  bitten by an ,orthodox clergyman1 
and cannot say whether his teeth  are at

 all leonine2 though ,i have seen seven 
of them together  enjoying their lunch  
at an hotel with decorum and dispatch4  
,but the twisting of the hair in the    
womanish fashion does for us  touch that
 note of the abnormal which the mystic  
meant to convey  in his poetry1 and     
which others feel rather as a recoil    
into humour4  ,the best and last touch  
to this topsy-turvydom was given when a 
lady1  observing one of these reverend  
gentlemen who for some reason did  not  
carry this curious coiffure1 exclaimed1 
in a tone of heartrending  surprise and 
distress1 ,oh1 he's bobbed his hair6    
,here again of course even a superficial
 glance at the pageant  of the street   
should not be content with its comedy4  
,there is  an intellectual interest in  
the external pomp and air of placid     
power in these ordinary ,orthodox parish
 priests2 especially if we  compare them
 with the comparatively prosaic and     
jog-trot good nature  of the ,roman     
monks1 called in this country the       

,latins4  ,mingling in  the same crowd  
with these black-robed pontiffs can be  
seen shaven men  in brown habits who    
seem in comparison to be both busy and  
obscure4  ,these are the sons of ,st4   
,francis1 who came to the ,east with a  
grand  simplicity and thought to finish 
the ,crusades with a smile4  ,the       
spectator will be wise to accept this   
first contrast that strikes  the eye    
with an impartial intellectual interest2
 it has nothing  to do with personal    
character1 of course1 and many ,greek   
priests  are as simple in their tastes  
as they are charming in their manners2  
while any ,roman priests can find as    
much ritual as they may happen  to want 
in other aspects of their own religion4 
,but it is broadly  true that ,roman and
 ,greek ,catholicism are contrasted in  
this way  in this country2 and the      
contrast is the flat contrary to all our
  customary associations in the ,west4  
,in the ,east it is ,roman ,catholicism 
that stands for much that we associate  

with ,protestantism4  ,it is ,roman     
,catholicism that is by comparison plain
 and practical  and scornful of         
superstition and concerned for social   
work4  ,it is ,greek ,catholicism that  
is stiff with gold and gorgeous  with   
ceremonial1 with its hold on ancient    
history and its inheritance  of imperial
 tradition4  ,in the cant of our own    
society1 we may say  it is the ,roman   
who rationalises and the ,greek who     
,romanises4  ,it is the ,roman ,catholic
 who is impatient with ,russian and     
,greek childishness1 and perpetually    
appealing for common sense4  ,it is the 
,greek who defends such childishness as 
childlike faith  and would rebuke such  
common sense as common scepticism4  ,i  
do not  speak of the theological tenets 
or even the deeper emotions involved1   
but only1 as ,i have said1 of contrasts 
visible even in the street4  ,and the   
whole difference is sufficiently        
suggested in two phrases  ,i heard      
within a few days4  ,a distinguished    

,anglo-,catholic1  who has himself much 
sympathy with the ,greek ,orthodox      
traditions1  said to me1 ,after all1 the
 ,romans were the first ,puritans4  ,and
 ,i heard that a ,franciscan1 being told
 that this ,englishman  and perhaps the 
,english generally were disposed to make
 an alliance  with the ,greek ,church1  
had only said by way of comment1 ,and a 
good  thing too1 the ,greeks might do   
something at last4    ,anyhow the first 
impression is that the ,greek is more   
gorgeous  in black than the ,roman in   
colours4  ,but the ,greek of course  can
 also appear in colours1 especially in  
those eternal  forms of frozen yet fiery
 colours which we call jewels4  ,i have 
seen the ,greek ,patriarch1 that        
magnificent old gentleman1  walking down
 the street like an emperor in the      
,arabian ,nights1  hung all over with   
historic jewels as thick as beads or    
buttons1  with a gigantic cross of solid
 emeralds that might have been given him
  by the green genii of the sea1 if any 

of the genii are ,christians4  ,these   
things are toys1 but ,i am entirely in  
favour of toys2  and rubies and emeralds
 are almost as intoxicating as that sort
  of lustrous coloured paper they put   
inside ,christmas crackers4  ,this      
beauty has been best achieved in the    
,north in the glory  of coloured glass2 
and ,i have seen great ,gothic windows  
in which one could really believe that  
the robes of martyrs  were giant rubies 
or the starry sky a single enormous     
sapphire4  ,but the colours of the ,west
 are transparent1 the colours  of the   
,east opaque4  ,i have spoken of the    
,arabian ,nights1  and there is really a
 touch of them even in the ,christian   
churches1  perhaps increased with a     
tradition of early ,christian secrecy4  
,there are glimpses of gorgeously tiled 
walls1 of blue curtains and green  doors
 and golden inner chambers1 that are    
just like the entrance  to an ,eastern  
tale4  ,the ,orthodox are at least more 
oriental  in the sense of being more    

ornamental2 more flat and decorative4   
,the ,romans are more ,western1 ,i might
 even say more modern1  in the sense of 
having more realism even in their       
ritualism4  ,the ,greek cross is a      
cross2 the ,roman cross is a crucifix4  
,but these are deeper matters2 ,i am    
only trying to suggest a sort  of       
silhouette of the crowd like the similar
 silhouette of the city1  a profile or  
outline of the heads and hats1 like the 
profile of  the towers and spires4  ,the
 tower that makes the ,greek priest look
  like a walking catafalque is by no    
means alone among the horns thus        
fantastically exalted4  ,there is the   
peaked hood of the ,armenian priest1    
for instance2 the stately survival of   
that strange ,monophysite  heresy which 
perpetuated itself in pomp and pride    
mainly through  the sublime accident of 
the ,crusades4  ,that black cone also   
rises  above the crowd with something of
 the immemorial majesty of a pyramid2   
and rightly so1 for it is typical of the

 prehistoric poetry  by which these     
places live that some say it is a       
surviving memory  of ,ararat and the    
,ark4    ,again the high white headgear 
of the ,bethlehem women1  or to speak   
more strictly of the ,bethlehem wives1  
has already  been noted in another      
connection2 but it is well to remark it 
again among the colours of the crowd1   
because this at least has  a            
significance essential to all criticism 
of such a crowd4  ,most travellers from 
the ,west regard such an ,eastern city  
far too  much as a ,moslem city1 like   
the lady whom ,mr4 ,maurice ,baring met 
who  travelled all over ,russia1 and    
thought all the churches were mosques4  
,but in truth it is very hard to        
generalise about ,jerusalem1 precisely  
because it contains everything1 and its 
contrasts are real contrasts4  ,and     
anybody who doubts that its             
,christianity is ,christian1 a thing    
fighting for our own culture and morals 
on the borders of ,asia1  need only     

consider the concrete fact of these     
women of ,bethlehem  and their costume4 
,there is no need to sneer in any       
unsympathetic  fashion at all the       
domestic institutions of ,islam2 the    
sexes are  never quite so stupid as some
 feminists represent2 and ,i dare say  a
 woman often has her own way in a harem 
as well as in a household4  ,but the    
broad difference does remain4  ,and if  
there be one thing1  ,i think1 that can 
safely be said about all ,asia and all  
oriental tribes1  it is this2 that if a 
married woman wears any distinctive     
mark1  it is always meant to prevent her
 from receiving the admiration or even  
the notice of strange men4  ,often it is
 only made to disguise her2  sometimes  
it is made to disfigure her4  ,it may be
 the masking  of the face as among the  
,moslems2 it may be the shaving of the  
head  as among the ,jews2 it may1 ,i    
believe1 be the blackening of the teeth 
and other queer expedients among the    
people of the ,far ,east4  ,but is never

 meant to make her look magnificent in  
public2  and the ,bethlehem wife is made
 to look magnificent in public4  ,she   
not  only shows all the beauty of her   
face2 and she is often very beautiful4  
,she also wears a towering erection     
which is as unmistakably  meant to give 
her consequence as the triple tiara of  
the ,pope4  ,a woman wearing such a     
crown1 and wearing it without a veil1   
does stand1  and can only conceivably   
stand1 for what we call the ,western    
view  of women1 but should rather call  
the ,christian view of women4  ,this is 
the sort of dignity which must of       
necessity come from  some vague memory  
of chivalry4  ,the woman may or may not 
be1  as the legend says1 a lineal       
descendant of a ,crusader4  ,but whether
 or no she is his daughter1 she is      
certainly his heiress4    ,she may be   
put last among the local figures ,i have
 here described1  for the special reason
 that her case has this rather deeper   
significance4  ,for it is not possible  

to remain content with the fact that the
 crowd  offers such varied shapes and   
colours to the eye1 when it also offers 
much deeper divisions and even dilemmas 
to the intelligence4  ,the black dress  
of the ,moslem woman and the white dress
 of the  ,christian woman are in sober  
truth as different as black and white4  
,they stand for real principles in a    
real opposition2 and the black and      
white will not easily disappear in the  
dull grey of our own compromises4  ,the 
one tradition will defend what it       
regards as modesty1 and the other  what 
it regards as dignity1 with passions far
 deeper than most of our  paltry        
political appetites4  ,nor do ,i see how
 we can deny such a right  of defence1  
even in the case we consider the less   
enlightened4  ,it is made all the more  
difficult by the fact that those who    
consider  themselves the pioneers of    
enlightenment generally also consider   
themselves the protectors of native     
races and aboriginal rights4  ,whatever 

view we take of the ,moslem ,arab1 we   
must at least admit  that the greater   
includes the less4  ,it is manifestly   
absurd to say  we have no right to      
interfere in his country1 but have a    
right  to interfere in his home4    ,it 
is the intense interest of ,jerusalem   
that there can thus be  two universes in
 the same street4  ,indeed there are ten
 rather  than two2 and it is a proverb  
that the fight is not only between      
,christian and ,moslem1 but between     
,christian and ,christian4  ,at this    
moment1 it must be admitted1 it is      
almost entirely a fight  of ,christian  
and ,moslem allied against ,jew4  ,but  
of that ,i shall have  to speak later2  
the point for the moment is that the    
varied colours  of the streets are a    
true symbol of the varied colours of the
 souls4  ,it is perhaps the only modern 
place where the war waged between ideas 
has such a visible and vivid heraldry4  
,and that fact alone may well leave the 
spectator with one  final reflection2   

for it is a matter in which the modern  
world  may well have to learn something 
from the motley rabble of this  remote  
,eastern town4    ,it may be an odd     
thing to suggest that a crowd in ,bond  
,street  or ,piccadilly should model    
itself on this masquerade of religions4 
,it would be facile and fascinating to  
turn it into a satire or  an            
extravaganza4  ,every good and innocent 
mind would be gratified  with the image 
of a bowler hat in the precise          
proportions of the ,dome  of ,st4       
,paul's1 and surmounted with a little   
ball and cross1  symbolising the loyalty
 of some ,anglican to his mother church4
  ,it might even be pleasing to see the 
street dominated  with a more graceful  
top-hat modelled on the ,eiffel ,tower1 
and signifying the wearer's faith in    
scientific enterprise1  or perhaps in   
its frequent concomitant of political   
corruption4  ,these would be fair       
,western parallels to the head-dresses  
of ,jerusalem2  modelled on ,mount      

,ararat or ,solomon's ,temple1 and some 
may insinuate  that we are not very     
likely ever to meet them in the ,strand4
  ,a man wearing whiskers is not even   
compelled to plead some sort  of excuse 
or authority for wearing whiskers1 as   
the ,jew can  for wearing ringlets2 and 
though the ,anglican clergyman may      
indeed  be very loyal to his mother     
church1 there might be considerable     
hesitation if his mother bade him bind  
his hair4  ,nevertheless a more         
historical view of the ,london and      
,jerusalem crowds will show as far  from
 impossible to domesticate such symbols2
 that some day a lady's  jewels might   
mean something like the sacred jewels of
 the ,patriarch1  or a lady's furs mean 
something like the furred turban of the 
,rabbi4  ,history indeed will show us   
that we are not so much superior to them
  as inferior to ourselves4    ,when the
 ,crusaders came to ,palestine1 and came
 riding up that road  from ,jaffa where 
the orange plantations glow on either   

side1 they came  with motives which may 
have been mixed and are certainly       
disputed4  ,there may have been         
different theories among the ,crusaders2
 there are  certainly different theories
 among the critics of the ,crusaders4   
,many sought ,god1 some gold1 some      
perhaps black magic4  ,but whatever else
  they were in search of1 they were not 
in search of the picturesque4  ,they    
were not drawn from a drab civilisation 
by that mere thirst for  colour that    
draws so many modern artists to the     
bazaars of the ,east4  ,in those days   
there were colours in the ,west as well 
as in the ,east2  and a glow in the     
sunset as well as in the sunrise4  ,many
 of the men  who rode up that road were 
dressed to match the most glorious      
orange garden and to rival the most     
magnificent oriental king4  ,king       
,richard cannot have been considered    
dowdy1 even by comparison1  when he rode
 on that high red saddle graven with    
golden lions1  with his great scarlet   

hat and his vest of silver crescents4   
,that squire of the comparatively       
unobtrusive household  of ,joinville1   
who was clad in scarlet striped with    
yellow1  must surely have been capable  
7if ,i may be allowed the expression7   
of knocking them in the most magnificent
 ,asiatic bazaar4  ,nor were these      
external symbols less significant1 but  
rather more  significant than the       
corresponding symbols of the ,eastern   
civilisation4  ,it is true that heraldry
 began beautifully as an art and        
afterwards  degenerated into a science4 
,but even in being a science it had  to 
possess a significance2 and the ,western
 colours were often  allegorical where  
the ,eastern were only accidental4  ,to 
a certain  extent this more             
philosophical ornament was doubtless    
imitated2  and ,i have remarked         
elsewhere on the highly heraldic lions  
which even the ,saracens carved over the
 gate of ,st4 ,stephen4  ,but it is the 
extraordinary and even exasperating fact

 that it was not  imitated as the most  
meaningless sort of modern vulgarity is 
imitated4  ,king ,richard's great red   
hat embroidered with beasts and birds   
has not  overshadowed the earth so much 
as the billycock1 which no one has yet  
thought of embroidering with any such   
natural and universal imagery4  ,the    
cockney tourist is not only more likely 
to set out with  the intention of       
knocking them1 but he has actually      
knocked them2  and ,orientals are       
imitating the tweeds of the tourist more
 than they  imitated the stripes of the 
squire4  ,it is a curious and perhaps   
melancholy truth that the world is      
imitating our worst1 our weariness  and 
our dingy decline1 when it did not      
imitate our best and the high  moment of
 our morning4    ,perhaps it is only    
when civilisation becomes a disease that
 it  becomes an infection4  ,possibly it
 is only when it becomes a very         
virulent disease that it becomes an     
epidemic4  ,possibly again  that is the 

meaning both of cosmopolitanism and     
imperialism4  ,anyhow the tribes sitting
 by ,afric's sunny fountains did  not   
take up the song when ,francis of       
,assisi stood on the very  mountain of  
the ,middle ,ages1 singing the ,canticle
 of the ,sun4  ,when ,michael ,angelo   
carved a statue in snow1 ,eskimos did   
not  copy him1 despite their large      
natural quarries or resources4          
,laplanders never made a model of the   
,elgin ,marbles1 with a frieze  of      
reindeers instead of horses2 nor did    
,hottentots try to paint  ,mumbo ,jumbo 
as ,raphael had painted ,madonnas4  ,but
 many a savage king  has worn a top-hat1
 and the barbarian has sometimes been so
 debased  as to add to it a pair of     
trousers4  ,explosive bullets and the   
brutal  factory system numbers of       
advanced natives are anxious to possess4
  ,and it was this reflection1 arising  
out of the mere pleasure  of the eye in 
the parti-coloured crowd before me1 that
 brought back  my mind to the chief     

problem and peril of our position in    
,palestine1  on which ,i touched earlier
 in this chapter2 the peril which is    
largely  at the back both of the just   
and of the unjust objections to         
,zionism4  ,it is the fear that the     
,west1 in its modern mercantile mood1   
will send not its best but its worst4   
,the artisan way of putting it1  from   
the point of view of the ,arab1 is that 
it will mean not  so much the ,english  
merchant as the ,jewish money-lender4 ,i
 shall  write elsewhere of better types 
of ,jew and the truths they  really     
represent2 but the ,jewish money-lender 
is in a curious  and complex sense the  
representative of this unfortunate      
paradox4  ,he is not only unpopular both
 in the ,east and ,west1 but he is      
unpopular  in the ,west for being       
,eastern and in the ,east for being     
,western4  ,he is accused in ,europe of 
,asiatic crookedness and secrecy1  and  
in ,asia of ,european vulgarity and     
bounce4  ,i have said a propos  of the  

,arab that the dignity of the oriental  
is in his long robe2  the merely        
mercantile ,jew is the oriental who has 
lost his long robe1  which leads to a   
dangerous liveliness in the legs4  ,he  
bustles  and hustles too much2 and in   
,palestine some of the unpopularity     
even of the better sort of ,jew is      
simply due to his restlessness4  ,but   
there remains a fear that it will not be
 a question of the  better sort of ,jew1
 or of the better sort of ,british      
influence4  ,the same ignominious       
inversion which reproduces everywhere   
the factory  chimney without the church 
tower1 which spreads a cockney commerce 
but not a ,christian culture1 has given 
many men a vague feeling  that the      
influence of modern civilisation will   
surround these ragged  but coloured     
groups with something as dreary and     
discoloured1  as unnatural and as       
desolate as the unfamiliar snow in which
 they  were shivering as ,i watched     
them4  ,there seemed a sort of sinister 

omen in this strange visitation that the
 north had sent them2  in the fact that 
when the north wind blew at last1 it had
 only  scattered on them this silver    
dust of death4    ,it may be that this  
more melancholy mood was intensified by 
that  pale landscape and those          
impassable ways4  ,i do not dislike     
snow2  on the contrary ,i delight in it2
 and if it had drifted as deep in my    
own country against my own door ,i      
should have thought it the triumph  of  
,christmas1 and a thing as comic as my  
own dog and donkey4  ,but the people in 
the coloured rags did dislike it2 and   
the effects of it  were not comic but   
tragic4  ,the news that came in seemed  
in that little  lonely town like the    
news of a great war1 or even of a great 
defeat4  ,men fell to regarding it1 as  
they have fallen too much to regarding  
the war1 merely as an unmixed misery1   
and here the misery was  really unmixed4
  ,as the snow began to melt corpses    
were found in it1  homes were hopelessly

 buried1 and even the gradual clearing  
of the roads  only brought him stories  
of the lonely hamlets lost in the hills4
  ,it seemed as if a breath of the      
aimless destruction that wanders  in the
 world had drifted across us2 and no    
task remained for men  but the weary    
rebuilding of ruins and the numbering of
 the dead4    ,only as ,i went out of   
the ,jaffa ,gate1 a man told me that the
 tree  of the hundred deaths1 that was  
the type of the eternal ,caliphate  of  
the ,crescent1 was cast down and lying  
broken in the snow4        ,,chapter    
,,vi    ,,the ,,groups ,,of ,,the ,,city
    ,palestine is a striped country2    
that is the first effect of landscape   
on the eye4  ,it runs in great parallel 
lines wavering into vast hills  and     
valleys1 but preserving the parallel    
pattern2 as if drawn boldly  but        
accurately with gigantic chalks of green
 and grey and red and yellow4  ,the     
natural explanation or 7to speak less   
foolishly7 the natural process  of this 

is simple enough4  ,the stripes are the 
strata of the rock1  only they are      
stripped by the great rains1 so that    
everything has  to grow on ledges1      
repeating yet again that terraced       
character  to be seen in the vineyards  
and the staircase streets of the town4  
,but though the cause is in a sense in  
the ruinous strength of the rain1  the  
hues are not the dreary hues of ruin4   
,what earth there is is commonly  a red 
clay richer than that of ,devon2 a red  
clay of which it would  be easy to      
believe that the giant limbs of the     
first man were made4  ,what grass there 
is is not only an enamel of emerald1 but
 is  literally crowded with those       
crimson anemones which might well have  
called forth the great saying touching  
,solomon in all his glory4  ,and even   
what rock there is is coloured with a   
thousand secondary  and tertiary tints1 
as are the walls and streets of the     
,holy ,city  which is built from the    
quarries of these hills4  ,for the old  

stones of the old ,jerusalem are as     
precious as the precious stones  of the 
,new ,jerusalem2 and at certain moments 
of morning or of sunset1  every pebble  
might be a pearl4    ,and all these     
coloured strata rise so high and roll so
 far that they might  be skies rather   
than slopes4  ,it is as if we looked up 
at a frozen sunset2  or a daybreak fixed
 for ever with its fleeting bars of     
cloud4  ,and indeed the fancy is not    
without a symbolic suggestiveness4      
,this is the land of eternal things2 but
 we tend too much to forget  that       
recurrent things are eternal things4    
,we tend to forget that  subtle tones   
and delicate hues1 whether in the hills 
or the heavens1  were to the primitive  
poets and sages as visible as they are  
to us2  and the strong and simple words 
in which they describe them  do not     
prove that they did not realise them4   
,when ,wordsworth  speaks of the clouds 
that gather round the setting sun1  we  
assume that he has seen every shadow of 

colour and every  curve of form2 but    
when the ,hebrew poet says ,he hath made
  the clouds his chariot2 we do not     
always realise that he was  full of     
indescribable emotions aroused by       
indescribable sights4  ,we vaguely      
assume that the very sky was plainer in 
primitive times4  ,we feel as if there  
had been a fashion in sunsets2 or as if 
dawn  was always grey in the ,stone ,age
 or brown in the ,bronze ,age4    ,but  
there is another parable written in     
those long lines of many-coloured  clay 
and stone4  ,palestine is in every sense
 a stratified country4  ,it is not only 
true in the natural sense1 as here where
 the clay has  fallen away and left     
visible the very ribs of the hills4  ,it
 is true  in the quarries where men dig1
 in the dead cities where they excavate1
  and even in the living cities where   
they still fight and pray4  ,the sorrow 
of all ,palestine is that its divisions 
in culture1  politics and theology are  
like its divisions in geology4  ,the    

dividing line is horizontal instead of  
vertical4  ,the frontier  does not run  
between states but between stratified   
layers4  ,the ,jew did not appear beside
 the ,canaanite but on top of the       
,canaanite2  the ,greek not beside the  
,jew but on top of the ,jew2 the ,moslem
 not  beside the ,christian but on top  
of the ,christian4  ,it is not merely  a
 house divided against itself1 but one  
divided across itself4  ,it is a house  
in which the first floor is fighting the
 second floor1  in which the basement is
 oppressed from above and attics are    
besieged  from below4  ,there is a great
 deal of gunpowder in the cellars2  and 
people are by no means comfortable even 
on the roof4  ,in days of what some call
 ,bolshevism1 it may be said that most  
states  are houses in which the kitchen 
has declared war on the drawing-room4   
,but this will give no notion of the    
toppling pagoda of political  and       
religious and racial differences1 of    
which the name is ,palestine4  ,to      

explain that it is necessary to give the
 traveller's first  impressions more    
particularly in their order1 and before 
,i  return to this view of the society  
as stratified1 ,i must state  the       
problem more practically as it presents 
itself while the society  still seems   
fragmentary4    ,we are always told that
 the ,turk kept the peace between  the  
,christian sects4  ,it would be nearer  
the nerve of vital  truth to say that he
 made the war between the ,christian    
sects4  ,but it would be nearer still to
 say that the war is something  not made
 by ,turks but made up by infidels4     
,the tourist visiting  the churches is  
often incredulous about the tall tales  
told about them2  but he is completely  
credulous about the tallest of all the  
tales1  the tale that is told against   
them4  ,he believes in a frantic        
fraticidal  war perpetually waged by    
,christian against ,christian in        
,jerusalem4  ,it freshens the free sense
 of adventure to wander through those   

crooked and cavernous streets1 expecting
 every minute to see the  ,armenian     
,patriarch trying to stick a knife into 
the ,greek ,patriarch2  just as it would
 add to the romance of ,london to linger
 about ,lambeth  and ,westminster in the
 hope of seeing the ,archbishop of      
,canterbury locked  in a deadly grapple 
with the ,president of the ,wesleyan    
,conference4  ,and if we return to our  
homes at evening without having actually
 seen  these things with the eye of     
flesh1 the vision has none the less     
shone  on our path1 and led us round    
many corners with alertness and with    
hope4  ,but in bald fact religion does  
not involve perpetual war in the ,east1 
any more than patriotism involves       
perpetual war in the ,west4  ,what it   
does involve in both cases is a         
defensive attitude2  a vigilance on the 
frontiers4  ,there is no war2 but there 
is  an armed peace4    ,i have already  
explained the sense in which ,i say that
 the ,moslems  are unhistoric or even   

anti-historic4 ,perhaps it would be near
  the truth to say that they are        
prehistoric4  ,they attach themselves   
to the tremendous truisms which men     
might have realised before they  had any
 political experience at all2 which     
might have been scratched  with         
primitive knives of flint upon primitive
 pots of clay4  ,being simple and       
sincere1 they do not escape the need for
 legends2  ,i might almost say that1    
being honest1 they do not escape the    
need  for lies4  ,but their mood is not 
historic1 they do not wish to grapple   
with the past2 they do not love its     
complexities2 nor do they  understand   
the enthusiasm for its details and even 
its doubts4  ,now in all this the       
,moslems of a place like ,jerusalem are 
the very  opposite of the ,christians of
 ,jerusalem4  ,the ,christianity of     
,jerusalem is  highly historic1 and     
cannot be understood without historical 
imagination4  ,and this is not the      
strong point perhaps of those among us  

who generally  record their impressions 
of the place4  ,as the educated         
,englishman  does not know the history  
of ,england1 it would be unreasonable   
to expect him to know the history of    
,moab or of ,mesopotamia4  ,he receives 
the impression1 in visiting the shrines 
of ,jerusalem1  of a number of small    
sects squabbling about small things4    
,in short1 he has before him a tangle of
 trivialities1 which include  the ,roman
 ,empire in the ,west and in the ,east1 
the ,catholic ,church  in its two great 
divisions1 the ,jewish race1 the        
memories of ,greece  and ,egypt1 and the
 whole ,mahometan world in ,asia and    
,africa4  ,it may be that he regards    
these as small things2 but ,i should be 
glad  if he would cast his eye over     
human history1 and tell me what are  the
 large things4  ,the truth is that the  
things that meet to-day in  ,jerusalem  
are by far the greatest things that the 
world has yet seen4  ,if they are not   
important nothing on this earth is      

important1  and certainly not the       
impressions of those who happen to be   
bored  by them4  ,but to understand them
 it is necessary to have something      
which is much commoner in ,jerusalem    
than in ,oxford or ,boston2  that sort  
of living history which we call         
tradition4    ,for instance1 the critic 
generally begins by dismissing these    
conflicts  with the statement that they 
are all about small points of theology4 
,i do not admit that theological points 
are small points4  ,theology is only    
thought applied to religion2 and those  
who prefer a thoughtless religion  need 
not be so very disdainful of others with
 a more rationalistic taste4  ,the old  
joke that the ,greek sects only differed
 about a single  letter is about the    
lamest and most illogical joke in the   
world4  ,an atheist and a theist only   
differ by a single letter2 yet          
theologians  are so subtle as to        
distinguish definitely between the two4 
,but though ,i do not in any case allow 

that it is idle to be concerned  about  
theology1 as a matter of actual fact    
these quarrels are not  chiefly         
concerned about theology4  ,they are    
concerned about history4  ,they are     
concerned with the things about which   
the only human sort  of history is      
concerned2 great memories of great men1 
great battles  for great ideas1 the love
 of brave people for beautiful places1  
and the faith by which the dead are     
alive4  ,it is quite true that with     
this historic sense men inherit heavy   
responsibilities and revenges1  fury and
 sorrow and shame4  ,it is also true    
that without it men die1  and nobody    
even digs their graves4    ,the truth is
 that these quarrels are rather about   
patriotism than  about religion1 in the 
sense of theology4  ,that is1 they are  
just such  heroic passions about the    
past as we call in the ,west by the name
  of nationalism2 but they are          
conditioned by the extraordinarily      
complicated position of the nations1 or 

what corresponds to the nations4  ,we of
 the ,west1 if we wish to understand it1
 must imagine ourselves  as left with   
all our local loves and family memories 
unchanged1  but the places affected by  
them intermingled and tumbled about by  
some  almost inconceivable convulsion4  
,we must imagine cities and landscapes  
to have turned on some unseen pivots1 or
 been shifted about by some  unseen     
machinery1 so that our nearest was      
furthest and our remotest  enemy our    
neighbour4  ,we must imagine monuments  
on the wrong sites1  and the antiquities
 of one county emptied out on top of    
another4  ,and we must imagine through  
all this the thin but tough threads  of 
tradition everywhere tangled and yet    
everywhere unbroken4  ,we must picture a
 new map made out of the broken         
fragments of the old map2  and yet with 
every one remembering the old map and   
ignoring the new4  ,in short we must try
 to imagine1 or rather we must try to   
hope1  that our own memories would be as

 long and our own loyalties  as steady  
as the memories and loyalties of the    
little crowd  in ,jerusalem2 and hope1  
or pray1 that we could only be as rigid1
  as rabid and as bigoted as are these  
benighted people4  ,then perhaps we     
might preserve all our distinctions of  
truth  and falsehood in a chaos of time 
and space4    ,we have to conceive that 
the ,tomb of ,napoleon is in the middle 
of ,stratford-on-,avon1 and that the    
,nelson ,column is erected  on the field
 of ,bannockburn2 that ,westminster     
,abbey has taken  wings and flown away  
to the most romantic situation on the   
,rhine1  and that the wooden ,victory is
 stranded1 like the ,ark on ,ararat1  on
 the top of the ,hill of ,tara2 that the
 pilgrims to the shrine  of ,lourdes    
have to look for it in the ,island of   
,runnymede1  and that the only existing 
,german statue of ,bismarck is to be    
found  in the ,pantheon at ,paris4      
,this intolerable topsy-turvydom is no  
exaggeration of the way in which stories

 cut across each other and sites  are   
imposed on each other in the historic   
chaos of the ,holy ,city4  ,now we in   
the ,west are very lucky in having our  
nations normally  distributed into their
 native lands2 so that good patriots can
 talk  about themselves without         
perpetually annoying their neighbours4  
,some of the pacifists tell us that     
national frontiers and divisions  are   
evil because they exasperate us to war4 
,it would be far truer  to say that     
national frontiers and divisions keep us
 at peace4  ,it would be far truer to   
say that we can always love each  other 
so long as we do not see each other4    
,but the people  of ,jerusalem are      
doomed to have difference without       
division4  ,they are driven to set      
pillar against pillar in the same       
temple1  while we can set city against  
city across the plains of the world4    
,while for us a church rises from its   
foundations as naturally  as a flower   
springs from a flower-bed1 they have to 

bless the soil  and curse the stones    
that stand on it4  ,while the land we   
love  is solid under our feet to the    
earth's centre1 they have to see  all   
they love and hate lying in strata like 
alternate night and day1  as            
incompatible and as inseparable4  ,their
 entanglements are tragic1  but they are
 not trumpery or accidental4            
,everything has a meaning2  they are    
loyal to great names as men are loyal to
 great nations2  they have differences  
about which they feel bound to dispute  
to the death2  but in their death they  
are not divided4    ,jerusalem is a     
small town of big things2 and the       
average modern  city is a big town full 
of small things4  ,all the most         
important  and interesting powers in    
history are here gathered within the    
area  of a quiet village2 and if they   
are not always friends1 at least they   
are necessarily neighbours4  ,this is a 
point of intellectual interest1  and    
even intensity1 that is far too little  

realised4  ,it is a matter  of modern   
complaint that in a place like          
,jerusalem the ,christian  groups do not
 always regard each other with          
,christian feelings4  ,it is said that  
they fight each other2 but at least they
 meet each other4  ,in a great          
industrial city like ,london or         
,liverpool1 how often do they  even meet
 each other8  ,in a large town men live 
in small cliques1  which are much       
narrower than classes2 but in this small
 town they  live at least by large      
contacts1 even if they are conflicts4   
,nor is it really true1 in the daily    
humours of human life1 that they  are   
only conflicts4  ,i have heard an       
eminent ,english clergyman from         
,cambridge bargaining for a brass lamp  
with a ,syrian of the ,greek ,church1   
and asking the advice of a ,franciscan  
friar who was standing smiling  in the  
same shop4  ,i have met the same        
representative of the ,church  of       
,england1 at a luncheon party with the  

wildest ,zionist ,jews1  and with the   
,grand ,mufti1 the head of the ,moslem  
religion4  ,suppose the same ,englishman
 had been1 as he might well have been1  
an eloquent and popular vicar in        
,chelsea or ,hampstead4  ,how often     
would he have met a ,franciscan or a    
,zionist8  ,not once in a year4  ,how   
often would he have met a ,moslem or a  
,greek ,syrian8  ,not once  in a        
lifetime4  ,even if he were a bigot1 he 
would be bound  in ,jerusalem to become 
a more interesting kind of bigot4  ,even
 if his opinions were narrow1 his       
experiences would be wide4  ,he is not1 
as a fact1 a bigot1 nor1 as a fact1 are 
the other  people bigots1 but at the    
worst they could not be unconscious     
bigots4  ,they could not live in such   
uncorrected complacency as is possible  
to a larger social set in a larger      
social system4  ,they could not  be     
quite so ignorant as a broad-minded     
person in a big suburb4  ,indeed there  
is something fine and distinguished     

about the very delicacy1  and even      
irony1 of their diplomatic relations4   
,there is something  of chivalry in the 
courtesy of their armed truce1 and it is
 a great  school of manners that        
includes such differences in morals4    
,this is an aspect of the interest of   
,jerusalem which can easily  be         
neglected and is not easy to describe4  
,the normal life  there is intensely    
exciting1 not because the factions      
fight1  but rather because they do not  
fight4  ,of the abnormal crisis  when   
they did fight1 and the abnormal motives
 that made them fight1  ,i shall have   
something to say later on4  ,but it was 
true for a great  part of the time that 
what was picturesque and thrilling was  
not  the war but the peace4  ,the       
sensation of being in this little town  
is rather like that of being at a great 
international congress4  ,it is like    
that moving and glittering social       
satire1 in which  diplomatists can join 
in a waltz who may soon be joining in a 

war4  ,for the religious and political  
parties have yet another point  in      
common with separate nations2 that even 
within this narrow  space the           
complicated curve of their frontiers is 
really more  or less fixed1 and         
certainly not particularly fluctuating4 
,persecution is impossible and          
conversion is not at all common4  ,the  
very able ,anglo-,catholic leader1 to   
whom ,i have already referred1  uttered 
to me a paradox that was a very         
practical truth4  ,he said he felt      
exasperated with the ,christian sects1  
not for their fanaticism but for their  
lack of fanaticism4  ,he meant their    
lack of any fervour and even of any     
hope1  of converting each other to their
 respective religions4  ,an ,armenian   
may be quite as proud of the ,armenian  
,church as a ,frenchman  of the ,french 
nation1 yet he may no more expect to    
make a ,moslem an  ,armenian than the   
,frenchman expects to make an           
,englishman a ,frenchman4  ,if1 as we   

are told1 the quarrels could be         
condemned as merely  theological1 this  
would certainly be the very reverse of  
logical4  ,but as ,i say1 we get much   
nearer to them by calling them national2
  and the leaders of the great religions
 feel much more like  the ambassadors of
 great nations4  ,and1 as ,i have also  
said1  that ambassadorial atmosphere can
 be best expressed on the word irony1   
sometimes a rather tragic irony4  ,at   
any tea-party or talk in the street1    
between the rival leaders1 there is a   
natural tendency to that sort  of wit   
which consists in veiled allusion to a  
very open secret4  ,each mail feels that
 there are heavy forces behind a small  
point1  as the weight of the fencer is  
behind the point of the rapier4  ,and   
the point can be yet more pointed       
because the politics of the city1  when 
,i was there1 included several men with 
a taste and talent for such  polished   
intercourse2 including especially two   
men whose experience  and culture would 

have been remarkable in any community in
 the world2  the ,american ,consul and  
the ,military ,governor of ,jerusalem4  
,if in cataloguing the strata of the    
society we take first the topmost  layer
 of ,western officialism1 we might      
indeed find it not inconvenient  to take
 these two men as representing the chief
 realities about it4  ,dr4 ,glazebrook1 
the representative of the ,united       
,states1  has the less to do with the   
internal issues of the country2 but his 
mere presence and history is so         
strangely picturesque that he might  be 
put among the first reasons for finding 
the city interesting4  ,he is an old man
 now1 for he actually began life as a   
soldier in the  ,southern and           
,secessionist army1 and still keeps     
alive in every detail1  not merely the  
virtues but the very gestures of the old
 ,southern  and ,secessionist           
aristocrat4    ,he afterward became a   
clergyman of the ,episcopalian ,church1 
and served  as a chaplain in the        

,spanish-,american war1 then1 at an age 
when most  men have long retired from   
the most peaceful occupations1 he was   
sent  out by ,president ,wilson to the  
permanent battlefield of ,palestine4    
,the brilliant services he performed    
there1 in the protection of ,british    
and ,american subjects1 are here chiefly
 interesting as throwing  a backward    
light on the unearthly topsy-turvydom of
 ,turkish rule4  ,there appears in his  
experiences something in such rule      
which we are perhaps apt to forget in a 
vision of stately  ,eastern princes and 
gallant ,eastern warriors1 something    
more  tyrannical even than the dull     
pigheadedness of ,prussianism4  ,i mean 
the most atrocious of all tortures1     
which is called caprice4  ,it is the    
thing we feel in the ,arabian tales1    
when no man knows  whether the ,sultan  
is good or bad1 and he gives the same   
,vizier  a thousand pounds or a thousand
 lashes4  ,i have heard ,dr4 ,glazebrook
  describe a whole day of hideous       

hesitation1 in which fugitives  for whom
 he pleaded were allowed four times to  
embark and four  times were brought back
 again to their prison4  ,there is      
something  there dizzy as well as dark1 
a whirlpool in the very heart of ,asia2 
and something wilder than our own worst 
oppressions in the peril  of those men  
who looked up and saw above all the     
power of ,asiatic arms1  their hopes    
hanging on a rocking mind like that of a
 maniac4  ,the tyrant let them go at    
last1 avowedly out of a simple sentiment
  for the white hair of the consul1 and 
the strange respect that many  ,moslems 
feel for the minister of any religion4  
,once at least  the trembling rock of   
barbaric rule nearly fell on him and    
killed him4  ,by a sudden movement of   
lawlessness the ,turkish military       
authorities  sent to him1 demanding the 
,english documents left in his custody4 
,he refused to give them up2 and he knew
 what he was doing4  ,in standing firm  
he was not even standing like ,nurse    

,cavell against  organised ,prussia     
under the full criticism of organised   
,europe4  ,he was rather standing in a  
den of brigands1 most of whom  had never
 heard of the international rules they  
violated4  ,finally by another freak of 
friendliness they left him and his      
papers alone2 but the old man had to    
wait many days in doubt1  not knowing   
what they would do1 since they did not  
know themselves4  ,i do not know what   
were his thoughts1 or whether they were 
far from  ,palestine and all            
possibilities that tyranny might return 
and reign  for ever4  ,but ,i have      
sometimes fancied that1 in that ghastly 
silence1  he may have heard again only  
the guns of ,lee and the last battle  in
 the ,wilderness4    ,if the mention of 
the ,american ,consul refers back to the
 oppression  of the past1 the mention of
 the ,military ,governor brings back    
all the problems of the present4  ,here 
,i only sketch these groups  as ,i first
 found them in the present2 and it must 

be remembered  that my present is       
already past4  ,all this was before the 
latest  change from military to civil   
government1 but the mere name  of       
,colonel ,storrs raises a question which
 is rather misunderstood  in relation to
 that change itself4  ,many of our      
journalists1  especially at the time of 
the last and worst of the riots1  wrote 
as if it would be a change from some    
sort of stiff militarism  to a liberal  
policy akin to parliamentarism4  ,i     
think this a fallacy1  and a fallacy not
 uncommon in journalism1 which is       
professedly  very much up to date1 and  
actually very much behind the times4    
,as a fact it is nearly four years      
behind the times1 for it is  thinking in
 terms of the old small and rigidly     
professional army4  ,colonel ,storrs is 
the very last man to be called          
militaristic in  the narrow sense2 he is
 a particularly liberal and enlightened 
type  of the sort of ,english gentleman 
who readily served his country in war1  

but who is rather particularly fitted to
 serve her in politics  or literature4  
,of course many purely professional     
soldiers have  liberal and artistic     
tastes2 as ,general ,shea1 one of the   
organisers  of ,palestinian victory1 has
 a fine taste in poetry1 or ,colonel    
,popham1  then deputy ,governor of      
,jerusalem1 an admirable taste in       
painting4  ,but while it is sometimes   
forgotten that many soldiers are men1 it
 is  now still more strange to forget   
that most men are soldiers4  ,i fancy   
there are now few things more           
representative than the ,british ,army2 
certainly it is much more representative
 than the ,british ,parliament4  ,the   
men ,i knew1 and whom ,i remember with  
so much gratitude1 working under        
,general ,bols at the seat of government
 on the ,mount of ,olives1  were        
certainly not narrowed by any military  
professionalism1 and had if  anything   
the mark of quite different professions4
  ,one was a very shrewd  and humorous  

lawyer employed on legal problems about 
enemy property1  another was a young    
schoolmaster1 with keen and clear ideas1
  or rather ideals1 about education for 
all the races in ,palestine4  ,these men
 did not cease to be themselves because 
they were all  dressed in khaki2 and if 
,colonel ,storrs recurs first to the    
memory1  it is not because he had become
 a colonel in the trade of soldiering1  
but because he is the sort of man who   
could talk equally about  all these     
other trades and twenty more4           
,incidentally1 and by way  of example1  
he can talk about them in about ten     
languages4  ,there is a story1 which    
whether or no it be true is very        
typical1  that one of the ,zionist      
leaders made a patriotic speech in      
,hebrew1  and broke off short in his    
recollection of this partially revived  
national tongue2 whereupon the ,governor
 of ,jerusalem finished  his ,hebrew    
speech for him--whether to exactly the  
same effect  or not it would be         

impertinent to inquire4  ,he is a man   
rather  recalling the eighteenth century
 aristocrat1 with his love of wit  and  
classical learning2 one of that small   
group of the governing  class that      
contains his uncle1 ,harry ,cust1 and   
was warmed with  the generous culture of
 ,george ,wyndham4  ,it was a purely    
mechanical  distinction between the     
military and civil government that would
  lend to such figures the stiffness of 
a drumhead court martial4  ,and even    
those who differed with him accused him 
in practice1  not of militarist lack of 
sympathy with any of those he ruled1    
but rather with too imaginative a       
sympathy with some of them4  ,to know   
these things1 however slightly1 and then
 read the ,english  newspapers          
afterwards is often amusing enough2 but 
,i have only mentioned  the matter      
because there is a real danger in so    
crude a differentiation4  ,it would be a
 bad thing if a system military in form 
but representative  in fact gave place  

to a system representative in form but  
financial  in fact4  ,that is what the  
,arabs and many of the ,english fear2   
and with the mention of that fear we    
come to the next stratum  after the     
official4  ,it must be remembered that  
,i am not at this  stage judging these  
groups1 but merely very rapidly         
sketching them1  like figures and       
costumes in the street4    ,the group   
standing nearest to the official is that
 of the ,zionists2  who are supposed to 
have a place at least in our official   
policy4  ,among these also ,i am happy  
to have friends2 and ,i may venture to  
call  the official head of the ,zionists
 an old friend in a matter quite remote 
from ,zionism4  ,dr4 ,eder1 the         
,president of the ,zionist ,commission1 
is a man for whom ,i conceived a respect
 long ago when he protested1  as a      
professional physician1 against the     
subjection of the poor  to medical      
interference to the destruction of all  
moral independence4  ,he criticised with

 great effect the proposal of           
legislators to kidnap  anybody else's   
child whom they chose to suspect of a   
feeblemindedness  they were themselves  
too feeble-minded to define4  ,it was   
defended1  very characteristically1 by a
 combination of precedent and progress2 
and we were told that it only extended  
the principle of the lunacy laws4  ,that
 is to say1 it only extended the        
principle of the lunacy laws  to people 
whom no sane man would call lunatics4   
,it is as if they  were to alter the    
terms of a quarantine law from lepers   
to light-haired persons2 and then say   
blandly that the principle  was the     
same4  ,the humour and human sympathy of
 a ,jewish doctor was  very welcome to  
us when we were accused of being        
,anti-,semites1 and we  afterwards asked
 ,dr4 ,eder for his own views on the    
,jewish problem4  ,we found he was then 
a very strong ,zionist2 and this was    
long before  he had the faintest chance 
of figuring as a leader of ,zionism4    

,and this accident is important2 for it 
stamps the sincerity of the small  group
 of original ,zionists1 who were in     
favour of this nationalist  ideal when  
all the international ,jewish           
millionaires were against it4  ,to my   
mind the most serious point now against 
it is that the millionaires  are for it4
  ,but it is enough to note here the    
reality of the ideal  in men like ,dr4  
,eder and ,dr4 ,weizmann1 and doubtless 
many others4  ,the only defect that need
 be noted1 as a mere detail of          
portraiture1  is a certain excessive    
vigilance and jealousy and pertinacity  
in  the wrong place1 which sometimes    
makes the genuine ,zionists unpopular   
with the ,english1 who themselves suffer
 unpopularity for supporting them4  ,for
 though ,i am called an ,anti-,semite1  
there were really periods of  official  
impatience when ,i was almost the only  
,pro-,semite in the company4  ,i went   
about pointing out what was really to be
 said for ,zionism1  to people who were 

represented by the ,arabs as the mere   
slaves  of the ,zionists4    ,this group
 of ,arab ,anti-,semites may be taken   
next1  but very briefly2 for the problem
 itself belongs to a later page2  and   
the one thing to be said of it here is  
very simple4  ,i never expected it1 and 
even now ,i do not fully understand it4 
,but it is the fact that the native     
,moslems are more ,anti-,semitic  than  
the native ,christians4  ,both are more 
or less so2 and have formed  a sort of  
alliance out of the fact4  ,the banner  
carried by the mob  bore the ,arabic    
inscription ,moslems and ,christians are
 brothers4  ,it is as if the little     
wedge of ,zionism had closed up the     
cracks  of the ,crusades4    ,of the    
,christian crowds in that partnership1  
and the ,christian creeds  they are     
proud to inherit1 ,i have already       
suggested something2  it is only as well
 to note that ,i have put them out of   
their strict order  in the              
stratification of history4  ,it is too  

often forgotten that in  these countries
 the ,christian culture is older than   
the ,moslem culture4  ,i for one regret 
that the old ,pax ,romana was broken up 
by the ,arabs2  and hold that in the    
long run there was more life in that    
,byzantine  decline than in that        
,semitic revival4  ,and ,i will add what
 ,i cannot  here develop or defend2 that
 in the long run it is best that the    
,pax ,romana should return2 and that the
 suzerainty of those lands  at least    
will have to be ,christian1 and neither 
,moslem nor ,jewish4  ,to defend it is  
to defend a philosophy2 but ,i do hold  
that there is  in that philosophy1 for  
all the talk of its persecutions in the 
past1  a possibility of comprehension   
and many-sided sympathy which is  not in
 the narrow intensity either of the     
,moslem or the ,jew4  ,christianity is  
really the right angle of that triangle1
  and the other two are very acute      
angles4    ,but in the meetings that led
 up to the riots it is the more ,moslem 

part of the mixed crowds that ,i chiefly
 remember2 which touches  the same truth
 that the ,christians are the more      
potentially tolerant4  ,but many of the 
,moslem leaders are as dignified and    
human as many  of the ,zionist leaders2 
the ,grand ,mufti is a man ,i cannot    
imagine  as either insulting anybody1 or
 being conceivably the object of insult4
  ,the ,moslem ,mayor of ,jerusalem was 
another such figure1 belonging also ,i  
believe to one of the ,arab aristocratic
 houses 7the ,grand ,mufti is  a        
descendant of ,mahomet7 and ,i shall not
 forget his first appearance  at the    
first of the riotous meetings in which  
,i found myself4  ,i will give it as the
 first of two final impressions with    
which ,i  will end this chapter1 ,i fear
 on a note of almost anarchic noise1    
the unearthly beating and braying of the
 ,eastern gongs and horns  of two fierce
 desert faiths against each other4    ,i
 first saw from the balcony of the hotel
 the crowd of riotors come  rolling up  

the street4  ,in front of them went two 
fantastic figures  turning like         
teetotums in an endless dance and       
twirling two crooked  and naked         
scimitars1 as the ,irish were supposed  
to twirl shillelaghs4  ,i thought it a  
delightful way of opening a political   
meeting2  and ,i wished we could do it  
at home at the ,general ,election4  ,i  
wish that instead of the wearisome      
business of ,mr4 ,bonar ,law  taking the
 chair1 and ,mr4 ,lloyd ,george         
addressing the meeting1  ,mr4 ,law and  
,mr4 ,lloyd ,george would only hop and  
caper in front of  a procession1        
spinning round and round till they were 
dizzy1 and waving  and crossing a pair  
of umbrellas in a thousand invisible    
patterns4  ,but this political          
announcement or advertisement1 though   
more intelligent  than our own1 had1 as 
,i could readily believe1 another side  
to it4  ,i was told that it was often a 
prelude to ordinary festivals1  such as 
weddings2 and no doubt it remains from  

some ancient ritual dance  of a         
religious character4  ,but ,i could     
imagine that it might sometimes  seem to
 a more rational taste to have too      
religious a character4  ,i could imagine
 that those dancing men might indeed be 
dancing dervishes1  with their heads    
going round in a more irrational sense  
than  their bodies4  ,i could imagine   
that at some moments it might suck  the 
soul into what ,i have called in        
metaphor the whirlpool of ,asia1  or the
 whirlwind of a world whipped like a top
 with a raging monotony2  the cyclone of
 eternity4  ,that is not the sort of    
rhythm nor  the sort of religion by     
which ,i myself should hope to save the 
soul2  but it is intensely interesting  
to the mind and even the eye1 and ,i    
went downstairs and wedged myself into  
the thick and thronging press4  ,it     
surged through the gap by the gate1     
where men climbed  lamp-posts and roared
 out speeches1 and more especially      
recited  national poems in rich         

resounding voices2 a really moving      
effect1  at least for one who could not 
understand a word that was said4        
,feeling had already gone as far as     
knocking ,jews' hats off and other      
popular sports1 but not as yet on any   
universal and systematic scale2  ,i saw 
a few of the antiquated ,jews with      
wrinkles and ringlets1  peering about   
here and there2 some said as spies or   
representatives  of the ,zionists1 to   
take away the ,anti-,semitic colour from
 the meeting4  ,but ,i think this       
unlikely2 especially as it would have   
been pretty hard  to take it away4  ,it 
is more likely1 ,i think1 that the      
archaic ,jews  were really not unamused 
and perhaps not unsympathetic           
spectators2  for the ,zionist problem is
 complicated by a real quarrel  in the  
,ghetto about ,zionism4  ,the old       
religious ,jews do not  welcome the new 
nationalist ,jews2 it would sometimes be
 hardly  an exaggeration to say that one
 party stands for the religion without  

the nation1 and the other for the nation
 without the religion4  ,just as the old
 agricultural ,arabs hate the ,zionists 
as the  instruments of new ,western     
business grab and sharp practice2  so   
the old peddling and pedantic but       
intensely pious ,jews hate  the         
,zionists as the instruments of new     
,western atheism of free thought4  ,only
 ,i fear that when the storm breaks1    
such distinctions  are swept away4      
,the storm was certainly rising4        
,outside the ,jaffa ,gate the road  runs
 up steeply and is split in two by the  
wedge of a high building1  looking as   
narrow as a tower and projecting like   
the prow of a ship4  ,there is something
 almost theatrical about its position   
and stage  properties1 its one          
high-curtained window and balcony1 with 
a sort  of pole or flag-staff2 for the  
place is official or rather municipal4  
,round it swelled the crowd1 with its   
songs and poems and  passionate rhetoric
 in a kind of crescendo1 and then       

suddenly  the curtain of the window rose
 like the curtain of the theatre1  and  
we saw on that high balcony the red fez 
and the tall figure  of the ,mahometan  
,mayor of ,jerusalem4    ,i did not     
understand his ,arabic observations2 but
 ,i know  when a man is calming a mob1  
and the mob did become calmer4  ,it was 
as if a storm swelled in the night and  
gradually died away  in a grey morning2 
but there are perpetual mutterings of   
that storm4  ,my point for the moment is
 that the exasperations come chiefly    
from  the two extremes of the two great 
,semitic traditions of monotheism2  and 
certainly not primarily from those poor 
,eastern ,christians  of whose          
fanaticism we have been taught to make  
fun4  ,from time to time there are      
gleams of the extremities of ,eastern   
fanaticism which are almost ghastly to  
,western feeling4  ,they seem to crack  
the polish of the dignified leaders of  
the ,arab  aristocracy and the ,zionist 
school of culture1 and reveal a         

volcanic substance of which only        
oriental creeds have been made4  ,one   
day a wild ,jewish proclamation is      
passed from hand to hand1  denouncing   
disloyal ,jews who refuse the teaching  
,hebrew2 telling doctors  to let them   
die and hospitals to let them rot1      
ringing with the old  unmistakable and  
awful accent that bade men dash their   
children  against the stones4  ,another 
day the city would be placarded with    
posters printed in ,damascus1 telling   
the ,jews who looked to ,palestine  for 
a national home that they should find it
 a national cemetery4  ,and when these  
cries clash it is like the clash of     
those two  crooked ,eastern swords1 that
 crossed and recrossed and revolved     
like blazing wheels1 in the vanguard of 
the marching mob4    ,i felt the fullest
 pressure of the problem when ,i first  
walked round  the whole of the ,haram   
enclosure1 the courts of the old        
,temple1  where the high muezzin towers 
now stand at every corner1  and heard   

the clear voices of the call to prayer4 
,the sky was  laden with a storm that   
became the snowstorm2 and it was the    
time  at which the old ,jews beat their 
hands and mourn over what are  believed 
to be the last stones of the ,temple4   
,there was a movement  in my own mind   
that was attuned to these things1 and   
impressed by  the strait limits and     
steep sides of that platform of the     
mountains2  for the sense of crisis is  
not only in the intensity of the ideals1
  but in the very conditions of the     
reality1 the reality with which this    
chapter began4  ,and the burden of it is
 the burden of ,palestine2  the         
narrowness of the boundaries and the    
stratification of the rock4  ,a voice   
not of my reason but rather sounding    
heavily in my heart1  seemed to be      
repeating sentences like pessimistic    
proverbs4  ,there is no place for the   
,temple of ,solomon but on the ruins of 
the ,mosque of ,omar4  ,there is no     
place for the nation of the ,jews  but  

in the country of the ,arabs4  ,and     
these whispers came to me  first not as 
intellectual conclusions upon the       
conditions of the case1  of which ,i    
should have much more to say and to     
hope2 but rather  as hints of something 
immediate and menacing and yet          
mysterious4  ,i felt almost a momentary 
impulse to flee from the place1 like one
  who has received an omen4  ,for two   
voices had met in my ears2  and within  
the same narrow space and in the same   
dark hour1  electric and yet eclipsed   
with cloud1 ,i had heard ,islam crying  
from the turret and ,israel wailing at  
the wall4        ,,chapter ,,vii        
,,the ,,shadow ,,of ,,the ,,problem     
,a traveller sees the hundred branches  
of a tree long before he is  near enough
 to see its single and simple root2 he  
generally sees  the scattered or        
sprawling suburbs of a town long before 
he has looked  upon the temple or the   
market-place4 ,so far ,i have given     
impressions  of the most motley things  

merely as they came1 in chronological   
and not in logical order2 the first     
flying vision of ,islam as a sort  of   
sea1 with something both of the equality
 and the emptiness and  the grandeur of 
its purple seas of sand2 the first sharp
 silhouette  of ,jerusalem1 like ,mount 
,st4 ,michael1 lifting above that merely
  ,moslem flood a crag still crowned    
with the towers of the ,crusaders2  the 
mere kaleidoscope of the streets1 with  
little more than a hint  of the heraldic
 meaning of the colours2 a merely       
personal impression  of a few of the    
leading figures whom ,i happened to meet
 first1  and only the faintest          
suggestion of the groups for which they 
stood4  ,so far ,i have not even tidied 
up my own first impressions of the      
place2  far less advanced a plan for    
tidying up the place itself4    ,in any 
case1 to begin with1 it is easy to be in
 far too much  of a hurry about tidying 
up4  ,this has already been noted in    
the more obvious case1 of all that      

religious art that bewildered  the      
tourist with its churches full of flat  
and gilded ikons4  ,many a man has had  
the sensation of something as full as a 
picture  gallery and as futile as a     
lumber-room1 merely by not happening to 
know  what is really of value1 or       
especially in what way it is really     
valued4  ,an ,armenian or a ,syrian     
might write a report on his visit  to   
,england1 saying that our national and  
especially our naval  heroes were       
neglected1 and left to the lowest dregs 
of the rabble2  since the portraits of  
,benbow and ,nelson1 when exhibited to  
the public1  were painted on wood by the
 crudest and most incompetent artists4  
,he would not perhaps fully appreciate  
the fine shade of  social status and    
utility implied in a public-house sign4 
,he might not realise that the sign of  
,nelson could be hung on  high          
everywhere1 because the reputation of   
,nelson was high everywhere1  not       
because it was low anywhere2 that his   

bad portrait was really  a proof of his 
good name4  ,yet the too rapid reformer 
may easily  miss even the simple and    
superficial parallel between the wooden 
pictures of admirals and the wooden     
pictures of angels4  ,still less will he
 appreciate the intense spiritual       
atmosphere1  that makes the real        
difference between an ikon and an       
inn-sign1  and makes the inns of        
,england1 noble and national as they    
are1  relatively the homes of ,christian
 charity but hardly a ,christian faith4 
,he can hardly bring himself to believe 
that ,syrians can be as fond  of        
religion as ,englishmen of beer4        
,nobody can do justice to these cults   
who has not some sympathy with  the     
power of a mystical idea to transmute   
the meanest and most trivial  objects   
with a kind of magic4  ,it is easy to   
talk of superstitiously  attaching      
importance to sticks and stones1 but the
 whole poetry  of life consists of      
attaching importance to sticks and      

stones2  and not only to those tall     
sticks we call the trees or those large 
stones we call the mountains4  ,anything
 that gives to the sticks of our  own   
furniture1 or the stones of our own     
backyard1 even a reflected  or indirect 
divinity is good for the dignity of     
life2 and this  is often achieved by the
 dedication of similar and special      
things4  ,at least we should desire to  
see the profane things transfigured  by 
the sacred1 rather than the sacred      
disenchanted by the profane2  and it was
 a prophet walking on the walls of this 
mountain city1  who said that in his    
vision all the bowls should be as the   
bowls  before the altar1 and on every   
pot in ,jerusalem should be written     
,holy unto the ,lord4    ,anyhow1 this  
intensity about trifles is not always   
understood4  ,several quite sympathetic 
,englishmen told me merely as a funny   
story  7and ,god forbid that ,i should  
deny that it is funny7 the fact  of the 
,armenians or some such people having   

been allowed to suspend  a string of    
lamps from a ,greek pillar by means of a
 nail1 and their  subsequent alarm when 
their nail was washed by the owners of  
the pillar2  a sort of symbol that their
 nail had finally fallen into the hands 
of the enemy4  ,it strikes us as odd    
that a nail should be so valuable  or so
 vivid to the imagination4  ,and yet1 to
 men so close to ,calvary1  even nails  
are not entirely commonplace4    ,all   
this1 regarding a decent delay and      
respect for religion or  even for       
superstition1 is obvious and has already
 been observed4  ,but before leaving it1
 we may note that the same argument cuts
  the other way2 ,i mean that we should 
not insolently impose our own ideas  of 
what is picturesque any more than our   
own ideas of what is practical4  ,the   
aesthete is sometimes more of a vandal  
than the vandal4  ,the proposed         
reconstructions of ,jerusalem have been 
on  the whole reasonable and            
sympathetic2 but there is always  a     

danger from the activities1 ,i might    
almost say the antics1  of a sort of    
antiquary who is more hasty than an     
anarchist4  ,if the people of such      
places revolt against their own         
limitations1  we must have a reasonable 
respect for their revolt1 and we must   
not be impatient even with their        
impatience4    ,it is their town2 they  
have to live in it1 and not we4  ,as    
they are the only judges of whether     
their antiquities are  really           
authorities1 so they are the only judges
 of whether their  novelties are really 
necessities4  ,as ,i pointed out more   
than once  to many of my friends in     
,jerusalem1 we should be very much      
annoyed  if artistic visitors from ,asia
 took similar liberties in ,london4  ,it
 would be bad enough if they proposed to
 conduct excavations  in ,pimlico or    
,paddington1 without much reference to  
the people  who lived there2 but it     
would be worse if they began to relieve 
them  of the mere utilitarianism of     

,chelsea ,bridge or ,paddington         
,station4  ,suppose an eloquent         
,abyssinian ,christian were to hold up  
his hand and stop  the motor-omnibuses  
from going down ,fleet ,street on the   
ground that  the thoroughfare was sacred
 to the simpler locomotion of ,dr4      
,johnson4  ,we should be pleased at the 
,african's appreciation of ,johnson2    
but our pleasure would not be unmixed4  
,suppose when you or ,i are  in the act 
of stepping into a taxi-cab1 an         
excitable ,coptic ,christian  were to   
leap from behind a lamp-post1 and       
implore us to save  the grand old       
growler or the cab called the gondola of
 ,london4  ,i admit and enjoy the poetry
 of the hansom2 ,i admit and enjoy  the 
personality of the true cabman of the   
old four-wheeler1 upon whose  massive   
manhood descended something of the      
tremendous tradition  of ,tony ,weller4 
,but ,i am not so certain as ,i should  
like to be1  that ,i should at that     
moment enjoy the personality of the     

,copt4  ,for these reasons it seems     
really desirable1 or at least           
defensible1  to defer any premature     
reconstruction of disputed things1  and 
to begin this book as a mere note-book  
or sketch-book  of things as they are1  
or at any rate as they appear4  ,it was 
in this irregular order1 and in this    
illogical disproportion1  that things   
did in fact appear to me1 and it was    
some time before ,i saw  any real       
generalisation that would reduce my     
impressions to order4  ,i saw that the  
groups disagreed1 and to some extent why
 they disagreed1  long before ,i could  
seriously consider anything on which    
they would  be likely to agree4  ,i have
 therefore confined the first section   
of this book to a mere series of such   
impressions1 and left to the last       
section a study of the problem and an   
attempt at the solution4  ,between these
 two ,i have inserted a sort of sketch  
of what seemed to me  the determining   
historical events that make the problem 

what it is4  ,of these ,i will only say 
for the moment that1 whether by a       
coincidence  or for some deeper cause1  
,i feel it myself to be a case of first 
thoughts being best2 and that some      
further study of history served  rather 
to solidify what had seemed merely a    
sort of vision4  ,i might almost say    
that ,i fell in love with ,jerusalem at 
first sight2  and the final impression1 
right or wrong1 served only to fix  the 
fugitive fancy which had seen1 in the   
snow on the city1  the white crown of a 
woman of ,bethlehem4    ,but there is   
another cause for my being content for  
the moment1  with this mere chaos of    
contrasts4  ,there is a very real reason
  for emphasising those contrasts1 and  
for shunning the temptation  to shut our
 eyes to them even considered as        
contrasts4  ,it is necessary to insist  
that the contrasts are not easy to turn 
into combinations2 that the red robes of
 ,rome and the green  scarves of ,islam 
will not very easily fade into a dingy  

russet2  that the gold of ,byzantium and
 the brass of ,babylon will require  a  
hot furnace to melt them into any kind  
of amalgam4  ,the reason  for this is   
akin to what has already been said about
 ,jerusalem as a  knot of realities4    
,it is especially a knot of popular     
realities4  ,although it is so small a  
place1 or rather because it is so  small
 a place1 it is a domain and a dominion 
for the masses4  ,democracy is never    
quite democratic except when it is quite
 direct2  and it is never quite direct  
except when it is quite small4  ,so soon
 as a mob has grown large enough to have
 delegates it has  grown large enough to
 have despots2 indeed the despots are   
often  much the more representative of  
the two4  ,now in a place so small  as  
,jerusalem1 what we call the rank and   
file really counts4  ,and it is         
generally true1 in religions especially1
 that the real  enthusiasm or even      
fanaticism is to be found in the rank   
and file4  ,in all intense religions it 

is the poor who are more religious  and 
the rich who are more irreligious4  ,it 
is certainly so with  the creeds and    
causes that come to a collision in      
,jerusalem4  ,the great ,jewish         
population throughout the world did hail
 ,mr4 ,balfour's  declaration with      
something almost of the tribal triumph  
they might  have shown when the ,persian
 conqueror broke the ,babylonian        
bondage4  ,it was rather the plutocratic
 princes of ,jewry who long hung back   
and hesitated about ,zionism4  ,the mass
 of ,mahometans really are  ready to    
combine against the ,zionists as they   
might have combined  against the        
,crusades4  ,it is rather the           
responsible ,mahometan  leaders who will
 naturally be found more moderate and   
diplomatic4  ,this popular spirit may   
take a good or a bad form2 and a mob may
 cry  out many things1 right and wrong4 
,but a mob cries out ,no ,popery2  it   
does not cry out ,not so much ,popery1  
still less ,only a moderate  admixture  

of ,popery4  ,it shouts ,three cheers   
for ,gladstone1  it does not shout ,a   
gradual and evolutionary social tendency
 towards  some ideal similar to that of 
,gladstone4  ,it would find it quite  a 
difficult thing to shout2 and it would  
find exactly the same  difficulty with  
all the advanced formulae about         
nationalisation  and                    
internationalisation and class-conscious
 solidarity4  ,no rabble could roar at  
the top of its voice the collectivist   
formula of ,the nationalisation of all  
the means of production1  distribution1 
and exchange4  ,the mob of ,jerusalem is
 no  exception to the rule1 but rather  
an extreme example of it4  ,the mob of  
,jerusalem has cried some remarkable    
things in its time2  but they were not  
pedantic and they were not evasive4     
,there was a day when it cried a single 
word2 ,crucify4 ,it was  a thing to     
darken the sun and rend the veil of the 
temple2  but there was no doubt about   
what it meant4    ,this is an age of    

minorities2 of minorities powerful and  
predominant1  partly through the power  
of wealth and partly through the        
idolatry  of education4  ,their powers  
appeared in every crisis of the ,great  
,war1  when a small group of pacifists  
and internationalists1 a microscopic    
minority in every country1 were yet     
constantly figuring as diplomatists  and
 intermediaries and men on whose        
attitude great issues might depend4  ,a 
man like ,mr4 ,macdonald1 not a workman 
nor a formal or real  representative of 
workmen1 was followed everywhere by the 
limelight2  while the millions of       
workmen who worked and fought were out  
of focus and therefore looked like a    
fog4  ,just as such figures  give a     
fictitious impression of unity between  
the crowds fighting  for different flags
 and frontiers1 so there are similar    
figures  giving a fictitious unity to   
the crowds following different creeds4  
,there are already ,moslems who are     
,modernists2 there have always  been a  

ruling class of ,jews who are           
,materialists4  ,perhaps it  would be   
true to say about much of the           
philosophical controversy  in ,europe1  
that many ,jews tend to be              
,materialists1 but all tend  to be      
,monists1 though the best in the sense  
of being ,monotheists4  ,the worst are  
in a much grosser sense materialists1   
and have motives  very different from   
the dry idealism of men like ,mr4       
,macdonald1  which is probably sincere  
enough in its way4  ,but with whatever  
motives1  these intermediaries          
everywhere bridge the chasm between     
creeds  as they do the chasm between    
countries4  ,everywhere they exalt  the 
minority that is indifferent over the   
majority that is interested4  ,just as  
they would make an international        
congress out of the traitors  of all    
nations1 so they would make an          
ecumenical council out of  the heretics 
of all religions4    ,mild              
constitutionalists in our own country   

often discuss  the possibility of a     
method of protecting the minority4  ,if 
they will find any possible method of   
protecting the majority1  they will have
 found something practically unknown to 
the modern world4  ,the majority is     
always at a disadvantage2 the majority  
is  difficult to idealise1 because it is
 difficult to imagine4  ,the minority is
 generally idealised1 sometimes by its  
servants1  always by itself4  ,but my   
sympathies are generally1 ,i confess1   
with the impotent and even invisible    
majority4  ,and my sympathies1  when ,i 
go beyond the things ,i myself believe1 
are with all  the poor ,jews who do     
believe in ,judaism and all the         
,mahometans  who do believe in          
,mahometanism1 not to mention so obscure
 a crowd  as the ,christians who do     
believe in ,christianity4  ,i feel ,i   
have  more morally and even             
intellectually in common with these     
people1  and even the religions of these
 people1 than with the supercilious     

negations that make up the most part of 
what is called enlightenment4  ,it is   
these masses whom we ought to consider  
everywhere2 but it  is especially these 
masses whom we must consider in         
,jerusalem4  ,and the reason is in the  
reality ,i have described2 that the     
place  is like a ,greek city or a       
medieval parish2 it is sufficiently     
small and simple to be a democracy4     
,this is not a university town  full of 
philosophies2 it is a ,zion of the      
hundred sieges raging  with religions2  
not a place where resolutions can be    
voted and amended1  but a place where   
men can be crowned and crucified4       
,there is one small thing neglected in  
all our talk  about self-determination2 
and that is determination4  ,there is a 
great deal more difference than there is
 between most  motions and amendments   
between the things for which a democracy
  will vote and the things on which a   
democracy is determined4  ,you can take 
a vote among ,jews and ,christians and  

,moslems about whether  lamp-posts      
should be painted green or portraits of 
politicians painted  at all1 and even   
their solid unanimity may be solid      
indifference4  ,most of what is called  
self-determination is like that2 but    
there  is no self-determination about   
it4  ,the people are not determined4    
,you cannot take a vote when the people 
are determined4  ,you accept a vote1 or 
something very much more obvious than a 
vote4    ,now it may be that in         
,jerusalem there is not one people but  
rather  three or four2 but each is a    
real people1 having its public opinion1 
its public policy1 its flag and almost1 
as ,i have said1 its frontier4  ,it is  
not a question of persuading weak and   
wavering voters1 at a vague             
parliamentary election1 to vote on the  
other side for a change1 to choose      
afresh between two middle-class         
gentlemen1 who look exactly alike and   
only differ on a question about which   
nobody knows or cares anything4  ,it is 

a question of contrasts that will almost
 certainly remain contrasts1  except    
under the flood of some spiritual       
conversion which cannot  be foreseen and
 certainly cannot be enforced4  ,we     
cannot enrol  these people under our    
religion1 because we have not got one4  
,we can enrol them under our government1
 and if we are obliged to do that1  the 
obvious essential is that like ,roman   
rule before ,christianity1  or the      
,english rule in ,india it should       
profess to be impartial if only  by     
being irreligious4  ,that is why ,i     
willingly set down for the moment  only 
the first impressions of a stranger in a
 strange country4  ,it is because our   
first safety is in seeing that it is a  
strange country2  and our present       
preliminary peril that we may fall into 
the habit  of thinking it a familiar    
country4  ,it does no harm to put the   
facts  in a fashion that seems          
disconnected2 for the first fact of all 
is  that they are disconnected4  ,and   

the first danger of all is that we  may 
allow some international nonsense or    
newspaper cant to imply  that they are  
connected when they are not4  ,it does  
no harm1  at any rate to start with1 to 
state the differences as irreconcilable4
  ,for the first and most unfamiliar    
fact the ,english have to learn  in this
 strange land is that differences can be
 irreconcilable4  ,and again the chief  
danger is that they may be persuaded    
that the wordy  compromises of ,western 
politics can reconcile them2 that such  
abysses  can be filled up with rubbish1 
or such chasms bridged with cobwebs4    
,for we have created in ,england a sort 
of compromise which may up to a  certain
 point be workable in ,england2 though  
there are signs that even  in ,england  
that point is approaching or is past4   
,but in any case we  could only do with 
that compromise as we could do without  
conscription2  because an accident had  
made us insular and even provincial4    
,so in ,india where we have treated the 

peoples as different from  ourselves and
 from each other we have at least partly
 succeeded4  ,so in ,ireland1 where we  
have tried to make them agree with us   
and each other1 we have made one        
never-ending nightmare4    ,we can no   
more subject the world to the ,english  
compromise than to the  ,english        
climate2 and both are things of         
incalculable cloud and twilight4  ,we   
have grown used to a habit of calling   
things by the wrong  names and          
supporting them by the wrong arguments2 
and even doing  the right thing for the 
wrong cause4  ,we have party governments
 which  consist of people who pretend to
 agree when they really disagree4  ,we  
have party debates which consist of     
people who pretend to disagree  when    
they really agree4  ,we have whole      
parties named after things they  no     
longer support1 or things they would    
never dream of proposing4  ,we have a   
mass of meaningless parliamentary       
ceremonials that are  no longer even    

symbolic2 the rule by which a           
parliamentarian  possesses a            
constituency but not a surname2 or the  
rule by  which he becomes a minister in 
order to cease to be a member4  ,all    
this would seem the most superstitious  
and idolatrous  mummery to the simple   
worshippers in the shrines of           
,jerusalem4  ,you may think what they   
say fantastic1 or what they mean        
fanatical1  but they do not say one     
thing and mean another4  ,the ,greek    
may or may not have a right to say he is
 ,orthodox1 but he means  that he is    
,orthodox2 in a very different sense    
from that in which  a man supporting a  
new ,home ,rule ,bill means that he is  
,unionist4  ,a ,moslem would stop the   
sale of strong drink because he is a    
,moslem4  ,but he is not quite so       
muddleheaded as to profess to stop it   
because  he is a ,liberal1 and a        
particular supporter of the party of    
liberty4  ,even in ,england indeed it   
will generally be found that there  is  

something more clear and rational about 
the terms of theology  than those of    
politics and popular science4  ,a man   
has at least  a more logical notion of  
what he means when he calls himself  an 
,anglo-,catholic than when he calls     
himself an ,anglo-,saxon4 ,but  the old 
,jew with the drooping ringlets1        
shuffling in and out  of the little     
black booths of ,jerusalem1 would not   
condescend  to say he is a child of     
anything like the ,anglo-,saxon race4   
,he does not say he is a child of the   
,aramaico-,semitic race4  ,he says he is
 a child of the ,chosen ,race1 brought  
with thunder  and with miracles and with
 mighty battles out of the land of      
,egypt  and out of the house of bondage4
  ,in other words1 he says something    
that means something1 and something that
 he really means4  ,one of the white    
,dominicans or brown ,franciscans1 from 
the great  monasteries of the ,holy     
,city1 may or may not be right in       
maintaining  that a ,papacy is necessary

 to the unity of ,christendom4  ,but he 
does not pass his life in proving that  
the ,papacy  is not a ,papacy1 as many  
of our liberal constitutionalists  pass 
it in proving that the ,monarchy is not 
a ,monarchy4  ,the ,greek priests spend 
an hour on what seems to the sceptic    
mere meaningless formalities of the     
preparation of the ,mass4  ,but they    
would not spend a minute if they were   
themselves sceptics  and thought them   
meaningless formalities1 as most modern 
people do  think of the formalities     
about ,black ,rod or the ,bar of the    
,house4  ,they would be far less        
ritualistic than we are1 if they cared  
as little for the ,mass as we do for the
 ,mace4  ,hence it is  necessary for us 
to realise that these rude and simple   
worshippers1  of all the different forms
 of worship1 really would be bewildered 
by the ritual dances and elaborate      
ceremonial antics of ,john ,bull1  as by
 the superstitious forms and almost     
supernatural incantations  of most of   

what we call plain ,english4    ,now ,i 
take it we retain enough realism and    
common sense not to  wish to transfer   
these complicated conventions and       
compromises  to a land of such ruthless 
logic and such rending divisions4  ,we  
may hope to reproduce our laws1 we do   
not want to reproduce our  legal        
fictions4  ,we do not want to insist on 
everybody referring  to ,mr4 ,peter or  
,mr4 ,paul1 as the honourable member for
 ,waddy ,walleh2  because a retiring    
,parliamentarian has to become ,steward 
of the ,chiltern ,hundreds1 we shall not
 insist on a retiring  ,palestinian     
official becoming ,steward of the       
,moabitic ,hundreds4  ,but yet in much  
more subtle and more dangerous ways we  
are making  that very mistake4  ,we are 
transferring the fictions and even the  
hypocrisies of our own insular          
institutions from a place where they    
can be tolerated to a place where they  
will be torn in pieces4  ,i have        
confined myself hitherto to descriptions

 and not to criticisms1  to stating the 
elements of the problem rather than     
attempting  as yet to solve it2 because 
,i think the danger is rather that we   
shall underrate the difficulties than   
overdo the description2  that we shall  
too easily deny the problem rather than 
that we shall  too severely criticise   
the solution4  ,but ,i would conclude   
this chapter  with one practical        
criticism which seems to me to follow   
directly  from all that is said here of 
our legal fictions and local anomalies4 
,one thing at least has been done by our
 own ,government1 which is entirely     
according to the ritual or routine of   
our own ,parliament4  ,it is a          
parliament of ,pooh ,bah1 where anybody 
may be ,lord ,high ,everything ,else4   
,it is a parliament of ,alice in        
,wonderland1 where the name of a thing  
is  different from what it is called1   
and even from what its name is called4  
,it is death and destruction to send out
 these fictions into a  foreign         

daylight1 where they will be seen as    
things and not theories4  ,and knowing  
all this1 ,i cannot conceive the reason1
 or even  the meaning1 of sending out   
,sir ,herbert ,samuel as the ,british   
representative in ,palestine4    ,i have
 heard it supported as an interesting   
experiment in ,zionism4  ,i have heard  
it denounced as a craven concession to  
,zionism4  ,i think it is quite         
obviously a flat and violent            
contradiction  to ,zionism4  ,zionism1  
as ,i have always understood it1 and    
indeed  as ,i have always defended it1  
consists in maintaining that it  would  
be better for all parties if ,israel had
 the dignity  and distinctive           
responsibility of a separate nation2 and
 that  this should be effected1 if      
possible1 or so far as possible1  by    
giving the ,jews a national home1       
preferably in ,palestine4  ,but where is
 ,sir ,herbert ,samuel's national home8 
,if it is in  ,palestine he cannot go   
there as a representative of ,england4  

,if it is in ,england1 he is so far a   
living proof that a ,jew does  not need 
a national home in ,palestine4  ,if     
there is any point  in the ,zionist     
argument at all1 you have chosen        
precisely the wrong  man and sent him to
 precisely the wrong country4  ,you have
 asserted  not the independence but the 
dependence of ,israel1 and yet you have 
ratified the worst insinuations about   
the dependence of ,christendom4  ,in    
reason you could not more strongly state
 that ,palestine does not  belong to the
 ,jews1 than by sending a ,jew to claim 
it for the ,english4  ,and yet in       
practice1 of course1 all the            
,anti-,semites will say he is  claiming 
it for the ,jews4  ,you combine all     
possible disadvantages  of all possible 
courses of action2 you run all the risks
 of the hard  ,zionist adventure1 while 
actually denying the high ,zionist      
ideal4  ,you make a ,jew admit he is not
 a ,jew but an ,englishman2 even while  
you  allow all his enemies to revile him

 because he is not an ,englishman  but a
 ,jew4    ,now this sort of confusion or
 compromise is as local as a ,london    
fog4  ,a ,london fog is tolerable in    
,london1 indeed ,i think it is very     
enjoyable in ,london4  ,there is a      
beauty in that brown twilight  as well  
as in the clear skies of the ,orient and
 the ,south4  ,but it is simply horribly
 dangerous for a ,londoner to carry  his
 cloud of fog about with him1 in the    
crystalline air about  the crags of     
,zion1 or under the terrible stars of   
the desert4  ,there men see differences 
with almost unnatural clearness1  and   
call things by savagely simple names4   
,we in ,england may  consider all sorts 
of aspects of a man like ,sir ,herbert  
,samuel2  we may consider him as a      
,liberal1 or a friend of the ,fabian    
,socialists1  or a cadet of one of the  
great financial houses1 or a ,member of 
,parliament who is supposed to represent
 certain miners in ,yorkshire1  or in   
twenty other more or less impersonal    

ways4  ,but the people  in ,palestine   
will see only one aspect1 and it will be
 a very personal  aspect indeed4  ,for  
the enthusiastic ,moslems he will simply
 be a ,jew2  for the enthusiastic       
,zionists he will not really be a       
,zionist4  ,for them he will always be  
the type of ,jew who would be willing   
to remain in ,london1 and who is ready  
to represent ,westminster4  ,meanwhile1 
for the masses of ,moslems and          
,christians1 he will  only be the       
aggravation in practice of the very     
thing of which  he is the denial in     
theory4  ,he will not mean that         
,palestine  is not surrendered to the   
,jews1 but only that ,england is4  ,now 
,i have nothing as yet to do with the   
truth of that suggestion2  ,i merely    
give it as an example of the violent and
 unexpected  reactions we shall produce 
if we thrust our own unrealities amid   
the red-hot realities of the ,near      
,east2 it is like pushing a snow man    
into a furnace4  ,i have no objection to

 a snow man as a part of our  own       
,christmas festivities2 indeed1 as has  
already been suggested1  ,i think such  
festivities a great glory of ,english   
life4  ,but ,i have seen the snow       
melting in the steep places about       
,jerusalem2  and ,i know what a cataract
 it could feed4    ,as ,i considered    
these things a deepening disquiet       
possessed me1  and my thoughts were far 
away from where ,i stood4  ,after all1  
the ,english did not indulge in this    
doubling of parts and muddling  of      
mistaken identity in their real and     
unique success in ,india4  ,they may    
have been wrong or right but they were  
realistic about ,moslems  and ,hindoos2 
they did not say ,moslems were ,hindoos1
 or send a highly  intelligent ,hindoo  
from ,oxford to rule ,moslems as an     
,englishman4  ,they may not have cared  
for things like the ideal of ,zionism2  
but they understood the common sense of 
,zionism1 the desirability  of          
distinguishing between entirely         

different things4  ,but ,i remembered   
that of late their tact had often failed
 them  even in their chief success in   
,india2 and that every hour  brought    
worse and wilder news of their failure  
in ,ireland4  ,i remembered that in the 
,early ,victorian time1 against the     
advice  only of the wisest and subtlest 
of the ,early ,victorians1 we had tied  
ourselves to the triumphant progress of 
industrial capitalism2 and that         
progress had now come to a crisis and   
what might well be a crash4  ,and now1  
on the top of all1 our fine patriotic   
tradition of foreign  policy seemed to  
be doing these irrational and random    
things4  ,a sort of fear took hold of   
me2 and it was not for the ,holy ,land  
that ,i feared4    ,a cold wave went    
over me1 like that unreasonable change  
and chill  with which a man far from    
home fancies his house has been burned  
down1  or that those dear to him are    
dead4  ,for one horrible moment at least
 ,i  wondered if we had come to the end 

of compromise and comfortable nonsense1 
and if at last the successful stupidity 
of ,england would topple  over like the 
successful wickedness of ,prussia2      
because ,god is not  mocked by the      
denial of reason any more than the      
denial of justice4  ,and ,i fancied the 
very crowds of ,jerusalem retorted on me
 words  spoken to them long ago2 that a 
great voice crying of old along  the    
,via ,dolorosa was rolled back on me    
like thunder from the mountains2  and   
that all those alien faces are turned   
against us to-day1  bidding us weep not 
for them1 who have faith and clarity and
 a purpose1  but weep for ourselves and 
for our children4        ,,chapter      
,,viii    ,,the ,,other ,,side ,,of     
,,the ,,desert    ,there was a story in 
,jerusalem so true or so well told that 
,i can see  the actors in it like       
figures in coloured costumes on a       
lighted stage4  ,it occurred during the 
last days of ,turkish occupation1 while 
the  ,english advance was still halted  

before ,gaza1 and heroically enduring   
the slow death of desert warfare4       
,there were ,german and ,austrian       
elements present in the garrison with   
the ,turks1 though the three  allies    
seem to have held strangely aloof from  
each other4  ,in the ,austrian group    
there was an ,austrian lady1 who had    
some dignity  or other1 like ,lord      
,lundy's grandmother4  ,she was very    
beautiful1  very fashionable1 somewhat  
frivolous1 but with fits of ,catholic   
devotion4  ,she had some very valuable  
,christian virtues1 such as             
indiscriminate  charity for the poor and
 indiscriminate loathing for the        
,prussians4  ,she was a nurse2 she was  
also a nuisance4  ,one day she was      
driving  just outside the ,jaffa ,gate1 
when she saw one of those figures  which
 make the ,holy ,city seem like the     
eternal crisis of an epic4  ,such a man 
will enter the gate in the most ghastly 
rags as if  he were going to be crowned 
king in the city2 with his head  lifted 

as if he saw apocalyptic stars in       
heaven1 and a gesture at  which the     
towers might fall4  ,this man was ragged
 beyond all that  moving rag-heap2 he   
was as gaunt as a gallows tree1 and the 
thing  he was uttering with arms held up
 to heaven was evidently a curse4  ,the 
lady sent an inquiry by her ,german     
servant1 whom also ,i can see  in a     
vision1 with his face of wood and his   
air of still trailing  all the heraldic 
trappings of the ,holy ,roman ,empire4  
,this ambassador  soon returned in state
 and said1 ,your ,serene ,high          
,sublimity  7or whatever it is71 he says
 he is cursing the ,english4  ,her pity 
and patriotism were alike moved2 and she
 again sent the plenipotentiary  to     
discover why he cursed the ,english1 or 
what tale of wrong or ruin  at ,english 
hands lay behind the large gestures of  
his despair4  ,a second time the wooden 
intermediary returned and said1  ,your  
,ecstatic ,excellency 7or whatever be   
the correct form71  he says he is       

cursing the ,english because they don't 
come4    ,there are a great many morals 
to this story1 besides the general      
truth to which it testifies2 that the   
,turkish rule was not  popular even with
 ,moslems1 and that the ,german war was 
not  particularly popular even with     
,turks4  ,when all deductions are  made 
for the patriot as a partisan1 and his  
way of picking up  only what pleases    
him1 it remains true that the ,english  
attack  was very widely regarded rather 
as a rescue than an aggression4  ,and   
what complaint there was really was1 in 
many cases1 a complaint  that the rescue
 did not come with a rush2 that the     
,english forces  had to fall back when  
they had actually entered ,gaza1 and    
could not  for long afterwards continue 
their advance on ,jerusalem4  ,this kind
  of criticism of military operations is
 always1 of course1 worthless4  ,in     
journalists it is generally worthless   
without being even harmless4  ,there    
were some in ,london whose pessimistic  

wailing was less excusable  than that of
 the poor ,arab in ,jerusalem2 who      
cursed the ,english with  the addition  
of being ,english themselves1 who did   
it1 not as he did1  before one          
foreigner1 but before all foreign       
opinion2 and who  advertised their      
failure in a sort of rags less reputable
 than his4  ,no one can judge of a point
 like the capture and loss of ,gaza1    
unless he knows a huge mass of technical
 and local detail that can  only be     
known to the staff on the spot2 it is   
not a question  of lack of water but of 
exactly how little water2 not of the    
arrival of reinforcements but of exactly
 how much reinforcement2  not of whether
 time presses1 but of exactly how much  
time there is4  ,nobody can know these  
things who is editing a newspaper at the
 other  end of the world2 and these are 
the things which1 for the soldier  on   
the spot1 make all the difference       
between jumping over a paling  and      
jumping over a precipice4  ,even the    

latter1 as the philosophic  relativist  
will eagerly point out1 is only a matter
 of degree4  ,but this is a parenthesis2
 for the purpose with which ,i mentioned
  the anecdote is something different4  
,it is the text of another and  somewhat
 more elusive truth2 some appreciation  
of which is necessary  to a sympathy    
with the more profound problems of      
,palestine4  ,and it might be expressed 
thus2 it is a proverb that the ,eastern 
methods seem to us slow2 that the ,arabs
 trail along on labouring  camels while 
the ,europeans flash by on motors or    
mono-planes4 ,but  there is another and 
stranger sense in which we do seem to   
them slow1  and they do seem to         
themselves to have a secret of          
swiftness4  ,there is a sense in which  
we here touch the limits of a land of   
lightning2  across which1 as in a dream1
 the motor-car can be seen crawling     
like a snail4    ,i have said that there
 is another side to the desert2 though  
there  is something queer in talking of 

another side to something so bare  and  
big and oppressively obvious4  ,but     
there is another side besides  the big  
and bare truths1 like giant bones1 that 
the ,moslem has  found there2 there is1 
so to speak1 an obverse of the obvious4 
,and to suggest what ,i mean ,i must go 
back again to the desert and  the days  
,i spent there1 being carted from camp  
to camp and giving  what were           
courteously described as lectures4  ,all
 ,i can say is that if  those were      
lectures1 ,i cannot imagine why         
everybody is not a lecturer4  ,perhaps  
the secret is already out2 and          
multitudes of men in evening dress  are 
already dotted about the desert1        
wandering in search of an audience4     
,anyhow in my own wanderings ,i found   
myself in the high narrow house  of the 
,base ,commandant at ,kantara1 the only 
house in the whole  circle of the       
horizon2 and from the wooden balustrade 
and verandah1  running round the top of 
it1 could be seen nine miles of tents4  

,sydney ,smith said that the bulbous    
domes of the ,brighton ,pavilion  looked
 as if ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral had come 
down there and littered2  and that grey 
vista of countless cones looked rather  
as if the  ,great ,pyramid had          
multiplied itself on the prolific scale 
of the herring4  ,nor was even such a   
foolish fancy without its serious side2 
for though  these pyramids would pass1  
the plan of them was also among the     
mightiest  of the works of man2 and the 
king in every pyramid was alive4  ,for  
this was the great camp that was the    
pivot of the greatest campaign2  and    
from that balcony ,i had looked on      
something all the more  historic because
 it may never be seen again4  ,as the   
dusk fell  and the moon brightened above
 that great ghostly city of canvas1  ,i 
had fallen into talk with three or four 
of the officers at the base2  grizzled  
and hard-headed men talking with all the
 curious and almost  colourless common  
sense of the soldier4  ,all that they   

said was objective2  one felt that      
everything they mentioned was really a  
thing  and not merely a thought2 a thing
 like a post or a palm-tree4 ,i  think  
there is something in this of a sympathy
 between the ,english  and the ,moslems1
 which may have helped us in ,india and 
elsewhere4  ,for they mentioned many    
,moslem proverbs and traditions1        
lightly enough but not contemptuously1  
and in particular another  of the       
proverbial prophecies about the term of 
,turkish power4  ,they said there was an
 old saying that the ,turk would never  
depart  until the ,nile flowed through  
,palestine2 and this at least  was      
evidently a proverb of pride and        
security1 like many such2  as who should
 say until the sea is dry or the sun    
rises in the west4  ,and one of them    
smiled and made a small gesture as of   
attention4  ,and in the silence of that 
moonlit scene we heard the clanking of a
 pump4  ,the water from the ,nile had   
been brought in pipes across the desert4

    ,and ,i thought that the symbol was 
a sound one1 apart from all vanities2   
for this is indeed the special sort of  
thing that ,christendom  can do1 and    
that ,islam by itself would hardly care 
to do4  ,i heard more afterwards of that
 water1 which was eventually carried  up
 the hills to ,jerusalem1 when ,i myself
 followed it thither2  and all ,i heard 
bore testimony to this truth so far as  
it goes2 the sense  among the natives   
themselves of something magic in our    
machinery1  and that in the main a white
 magic2 the sense of all the more solid 
sort  of social service that belongs    
rather to the ,west than to the ,east4  
,when the fountain first flowed in the  
,holy ,city in the mountains1  and      
,father ,waggett blessed it for the use 
of men1 it is said that  an old ,arab   
standing by said1 in the plain and      
powerful phraseology  of his people3    
,the ,turks were here for five hundred  
years1  and they never gave us a cup of 
cold water4    ,i put first this minimum

 of truth about the validity of ,western
  work because the same conversation    
swerved slowly1 as it were1  to the     
,eastern side4  ,these same men1 who    
talked of all things  as if they were   
chairs and tables1 began to talk quite  
calmly of  things more amazing than     
table-turning4 ,they were as wonderful  
as if  the water had come there like the
 wind1 without any pipes or pumps2  or  
if ,father ,waggett had merely struck   
the rock like ,moses4  ,they spoke of a 
solitary soldier at the end of a single 
telephone wire  across the wastes1      
hearing of something that had that      
moment happened  hundreds of miles away1
 and then coming upon a casual ,bedouin 
who knew  it already4  ,they spoke of   
the whole tribes moving and on the      
march1  upon news that could only come a
 little later by the swiftest wires  of 
the white man4  ,they offered no        
explanation of these things2  they      
simply knew they were there1 like the   
palm-trees and the moon4  ,they did not 

say it was telepathy2 they lived much   
too close to  realities for that4  ,that
 word1 which will instantly leap to the 
lips  of too many of my readers1 strikes
 me as merely an evidence of two  of our
 great modern improvements2 the love of 
long words and the loss  of common      
sense4  ,it may have been telepathy1    
whatever that is2  but a man must be    
almost stunned with stupidity if he is  
satisfied  to say telepathy as if he    
were saying telegraphy4  ,if everybody  
is satisfied about how it is done1 why  
does not everybody do it8  ,why does not
 a cultivated clergyman in ,cornwall    
make a casual remark  to an old friend  
of his at the ,university of ,aberdeen8 
,why does  not a harassed commercial    
traveller in ,barcelona settle a        
question  by merely thinking about his  
business partner in ,berlin8  ,the      
common  sense of it is1 of course1 that 
the name makes no sort of difference2   
the mystery is why some people can do it
 and others cannot2  and why it seems to

 be easy in one place and impossible in 
another4  ,in other words it comes back 
to that very mystery which of all       
mysteries the modern world thinks most  
superstitious and senseless2  the       
mystery of locality4  ,it works back at 
last to the hardest of  all the hard    
sayings of supernaturalism2 that there  
is such a thing  as holy or unholy      
ground1 as divinely or diabolically     
inspired people2  that there may be such
 things as sacred sites or even sacred  
stones2  in short that the airy nothing 
of spiritual essence1 evil or good1  can
 have quite literally a local habitation
 and a name4    ,it may be said in      
passing that this genius loci is here   
very much  the presiding genius4  ,it is
 true that everywhere to-day a parade of
 the  theory of pantheism goes with a   
considerable practice of particularism2 
and that people everywhere are beginning
 to wish they were somewhere4  ,and even
 where it is not true of men1 it seems  
to be true of the  mysterious forces    

which men are once more studying4  ,the 
words we now  address to the unseen     
powers may be vague and universal1 but  
the words  they are said to address to  
us are parochial and even private4      
,while the ,higher ,thought ,centre     
would widen worship everywhere  to a    
temple not made with hands1 the         
,psychical ,research ,society  is       
conducting practical experiments round a
 haunted house4  ,men may become        
cosmopolitans1 but ghosts remain        
patriots4  ,men may or may not expect an
 act of healing to take place at a holy 
well1  but nobody expects it ten miles  
from the well2 and even the sceptic who 
comes to expose the ghost-haunted       
churchyard has to haunt the churchyard  
like a ghost4  ,there may be something  
faintly amusing about the idea  of      
demi-gods with door-knockers and dinner 
tables1 and demons1  one may almost say1
 keeping the home fires burning4  ,but  
the driving  force of this dark mystery 
of locality is all the more indisputable

  because it drives against most modern 
theories and associations4  ,the truth  
is that1 upon a more transcendental     
consideration1  we do not know what     
place is any more than we know what time
 is4  ,we do not know of the unknown    
powers that they cannot concentrate  in 
space as in time1 or find in a spot     
something that corresponds  to a crisis4
  ,and if this be felt everywhere1 it is
 necessarily  and abnormally felt in    
those alleged holy places and sacred    
spots4  ,it is felt supremely in all    
those lands of the ,near ,east which lie
  about the holy hill of ,zion4    ,in  
these lands an impression grows steadily
 on the mind much too  large for most of
 the recent religious or scientific     
definitions4  ,the bogus heraldry of    
,haeckel is as obviously insufficient as
 any  quaint old chronicle tracing the  
genealogies of ,english kings through   
the chiefs of ,troy to the children of  
,noah4  ,there is no difference1  except
 that the tale of the ,dark ,ages can   

never be proved1  while the travesty of 
the ,darwinian theory can sometimes be  
disproved4  ,but ,i should diminish my  
meaning if ,i suggested it as a mere    
score in the ,victorian game of         
,scripture versus ,science4  ,some much 
larger mystery veils the origins of man 
than most partisans  on either side have
 realised2 and in these strange primeval
 plains  the traveller does realise it4 
,it was never so well expressed  as by  
one of the most promising of those whose
 literary possibilities  were gloriously
 broken off by the great war2           
,lieutenant ,warre-,cornish  who left a 
strange and striking fragment1 about a  
man who came  to these lands with a     
mystical idea of forcing himself back   
against the stream of time into the very
 fountain of creation4  ,this is a      
parenthesis2 but before resuming the    
more immediate  matter of the           
supernormal tricks of the tribes of the 
,east1  it is well to recognise this    
very real if much more general historic 

impression about the particular lands in
 which they lived4  ,i have called it a 
historic impression2 but it might more  
truly be called  a prehistoric          
impression4  ,it is best expressed in   
symbol by saying  that the legendary    
site of the ,garden of ,eden is in      
,mesopotamia4  ,it is equally well      
expressed in concrete experience by     
saying that1  when ,i was in these      
parts1 a learned man told me that the   
primitive form  of wheat had just1 for  
the first time1 been discovered in      
,palestine4    ,the feeling that fills  
the traveller may be faintly suggested  
thus2  that here1 in this legendary land
 between ,asia and ,europe1 may well    
have happened whatever did happen2 that 
through this ,eastern gate1  if any1    
entered whatever made and changed the   
world4  ,whatever else  this narrow     
strip of land may seem like1 it does    
really seem1  to the spirit and almost  
to the senses1 like the bridge that may 
have  borne across archaic abysses the  

burden and the mystery of man4  ,here   
have been civilisations as old as any   
barbarism2 to all  appearance perhaps   
older than any barbarism4  ,here is the 
camel2  the enormous unnatural friend of
 man2 the prehistoric pet4  ,he is never
 known to have been wild1 and might make
 a man fancy  that all wild animals had 
once been tame4  ,as ,i said elsewhere1 
all might be a runaway menagerie2 the   
whale a cow that went swimming  and     
never came back1 the tiger a large cat  
that took the prize  7and the           
prize-giver7 and escaped to the jungle4 
,this is not  7,i venture to think7     
true2 but it is true as ,pithecanthropus
 and  ,primitive ,man and all the other 
random guesses from dubious bits  of    
bone and stone4  ,and the truth is some 
third thing1 too tremendous  to be      
remembered by men4  ,whatever it was1   
perhaps the camel saw it2  but from the 
expression on the face of that old      
family servant1  ,i feel sure that he   
will never tell4    ,i have called this 

the other side of the desert2 and in    
another  sense it is literally the other
 side4  ,it is the other shore  of that 
shifting and arid sea4  ,looking at it  
from the ,west  and considering mainly  
the case of the ,moslem1 we feel the    
desert  is but a barren border-land of  
,christendom2 but seen from  the other  
side it is the barrier between us and a 
heathendom far  more mysterious and even
 monstrous than anything ,moslem can be4
  ,indeed it is necessary to realise    
this more vividly in order to feel  the 
virtue of the ,moslem movement4  ,it    
belonged to the desert1  but in one     
sense it was rather a clearance in the  
cloud that rests  upon the desert2 a    
rift of pale but clean light in volumes 
of vapour rolled on it like smoke from  
the strange lands beyond4  ,it conceived
 a fixed hatred of idolatry1 partly     
because its face was  turned towards the
 multitudinous idolatries of the lands  
of sunrise2  and as ,i looked ,eastward 
,i seemed to be conscious of the        

beginnings  of that other world2 and    
saw1 like a forest of arms or a dream   
full  of faces1 the gods of ,asia on    
their thousand thrones4    ,it is not a 
mere romance that calls it a land of    
magic1  or even of black magic4  ,those 
who carry that atmosphere to us  are not
 the romanticists but the realists4     
,every one can feel  it in the work of  
,mr4 ,rudyard ,kipling2 and when ,i once
 remarked  on his repulsive little      
masterpiece called ,the ,mark of the    
,beast1  to a rather cynical            
,anglo-,indian officer1 he observed     
moodily1 ,it's a  beastly story4  ,but  
those devils really can do jolly queer  
things4  ,it is but to take a           
commonplace example out of countless    
more  notable ones to mention the many  
witnesses to the mango trick4  ,here    
again we have from time to time to weep 
over the weak-mindedness  that hurriedly
 dismisses it as the practice of        
hypnotism4  ,it is as if people were    
asked to explain how one unarmed ,indian

  had killed three hundred men1 and they
 said it was only the practice  of human
 sacrifice4  ,nothing that we know as   
hypnotism will enable a man  to alter   
the eyes in the heads of a huge crowd of
 total strangers2  wide awake in broad  
daylight2 and if it is hypnotism1 it is 
something so appallingly magnified as to
 need a new magic to explain  the       
explanation2 certainly something that   
explains it better  than a ,greek word  
for sleep4  ,but the impression of these
 special  instances is but one example  
of a more universal impression of  the  
,asiatic atmosphere2 and that atmosphere
 itself is only an example  of something
 vaster still for which ,i am trying to 
find words4  ,asia stands for something 
which the world in the ,west as well  as
 the ,east is more and more feeling as a
 presence1 and even  a pressure4  ,it   
might be called the spiritual world let 
loose2  or a sort of psychical anarchy2 
a jungle of mango plants4  ,and it is   
pressing upon the ,west also to-day     

because of the breaking  down of certain
 materialistic barriers that have       
hitherto held it back4  ,in plain words 
the attitude of science is not only     
modified2  it is now entirely reversed4 
,i do not say it with mere pleasure2  in
 some ways ,i prefer our materialism to 
their spiritualism4  ,but for good or   
evil the scientists are now destroying  
their  own scientific world4    ,the    
agnostics have been driven back on      
agnosticism2  and are already recovering
 from the shock4  ,they find  themselves
 in a really unknown world under really 
unknown gods2  a world which is more    
mystical1 or at least more mysterious4  
,for in the ,victorian age the agnostics
 were not really agnostics4  ,they might
 be better described as reverent        
materialists2  or at any rate monists4  
,they had at least at the back  of their
 minds a clear and consistent concept of
 their rather  clockwork cosmos2 that is
 why they could not admit the smallest  
speck of the supernatural into their    

clockwork4  ,but to-day it is  very hard
 for a scientific man to say where the  
supernatural ends  or the natural       
begins1 or what name should be given to 
either4  ,the word agnostic has ceased  
to be a polite word for atheist4  ,it   
has become a real word for a very real  
state of mind1  conscious of many       
possibilities beyond that of the        
atheist1  and not excluding that of the 
polytheist4  ,it is no longer a question
  of defining or denying a simple       
central power1 but of balancing  the    
brain in a bewilderment of new powers   
which seem to overlap  and might even   
conflict4  ,nature herself has become   
unnatural4  ,the wind is blowing from   
the other side of the desert1 not now   
with  noble truism ,there is no ,god but
 ,god1 but rather with that other  motto
 out of the deeper anarchy of ,asia1    
drawn out by ,mr4 ,kipling1  in the     
shape of a native proverb1 in the very  
story already mentioned2  ,your gods and
 my gods1 do you or ,i know which is the

 stronger8  ,there was a mystical story 
,i read somewhere in my boyhood1  of    
which the only image that remains is    
that of a rose-bush growing             
mysteriously in the middle of a room4   
,taking this image for the sake  of     
argument1 we can easily fancy a man     
half-conscious and convinced  that he is
 delirious1 or still partly in a dream1 
because he sees  such a magic bush      
growing irrationally in the middle of   
his bedroom4  ,all the walls and        
furniture are familiar and solid1 the   
table1  the clock1 the telephone1 the   
looking glass or what not2 there is     
nothing unnatural but this one hovering 
hallucination or optical  delusion of   
green and red4  ,now that was very much 
the view taken  of the ,rose of ,sharon1
 the mystical rose of the sacred        
tradition  of ,palestine1 by any        
educated man about #ahej1 when the      
rationalism  of the eighteenth century  
was supposed to have found full  support
 in the science of the nineteenth4  ,he 

had a sentiment  about a rose3  he was  
still glad it had fragrance or          
atmosphere2  though he remembered with a
 slight discomfort that it had thorns4  
,but what bothered him about it was that
 it was impossible4  ,and what made him 
think it impossible was it was          
inconsistent  with everything else4  ,it
 was one solitary and monstrous         
exception to the sort of rule that ought
 to have no exceptions4  ,science did   
not convince him that there were few    
miracles1  but that there were no       
miracles2 and why should there be       
miracles  only in ,palestine and only   
for one short period8  ,it was a single 
and senseless contradiction to an       
otherwise complete cosmos4  ,for the    
furniture fitted in bit by bit and      
better and better2  and the bedroom     
seemed to grow more and more solid4     
,the man recognised the portrait of     
himself over the mantelpiece or  the    
medicine bottles on the table1 like the 
dying lover in ,browning4  ,in other    

words1 science so far had steadily      
solidified things2  ,newton had measured
 the walls and ceiling and made a       
calculus  of their three dimensions4    
,darwin was already arranging  the      
animals in rank as neatly as a row of   
chairs1 or ,faraday  the chemical       
elements as clearly as a row of medicine
 bottles4  ,from the middle of the      
eighteenth century to the middle of the 
nineteenth1  science was not only making
 discoveries1 but all the discoveries   
were in one direction4  ,science is     
still making discoveries2  but they are 
in the opposite direction4    ,for      
things are rather different when the man
 in the bed  next looks at the bedroom4 
,not only is the rose-bush still  very  
obvious2 but the other things are       
looking very odd4  ,the perspective     
seems to have gone crooked2 the walls   
seem to vary  in measurement till the   
man thinks he is going mad4  ,the       
wall-paper  has a new pattern1 of       
strange spirals instead of round dots4  

,the table seems to have moved by itself
 across the room and thrown  the        
medicine bottles out of the window4     
,the telephone has vanished  from the   
wall2 the mirror does not reflect what  
is in front of it4  ,the portrait of    
himself over the mantelpiece has a face 
that is  not his own4    ,that is       
something like a vision of the vital    
change in the whole  trend of natural   
philosophy in the last twenty or thirty 
years4  ,it matters little whether we   
regard it as the deepening  or the      
destruction of the scientific universe4 
,it matters little whether we say that  
grander abysses have  opened in it1 or  
merely that the bottom has fallen out of
 it4  ,it is quite self-evident that    
scientific men are at war with wilder   
and more unfathomable fancies than the  
facts of the age of ,huxley4  ,i attempt
 no controversy about any of the        
particular cases3  it is the cumulative 
effect of all of them that makes the    
impression  one of common sense4  ,it is

 really true that the perspective and   
dimensions of the man's bedroom have    
altered2 the disciples of ,einstein     
will tell him that straight lines are   
curved and perhaps measure  more one way
 than the other2 if that is not a       
nightmare1 what is8  ,it is really true 
that the clock has altered1 for time has
 turned  into the fourth dimension or   
something entirely different2  and the  
telephone may fairly be said to have    
faded from view in favour  of the       
invisible telepath4  ,it is true that   
the pattern of the paper  has changed1  
for the very pattern of the world has   
changed2  we are told that it is not    
made of atoms like the dots but of      
electrons like the spirals4  ,scientific
 men of the first rank  have seen a     
table move by itself1 and walk upstairs 
by itself4  ,it does not matter here    
whether it was done by the spirits2 it  
is enough  that few still pretend that  
is entirely done by the spiritualists4  
,i am not dealing with doctrines but    

with doubts2 with the mere fact  that   
all these things have grown deeper and  
more bewildering4  ,some people really  
are throwing their medicine bottles out 
of the window2 and some of them at least
 are working purely  psychological cures
 of a sort that would once have been    
called  miraculous healing4  ,i do not  
say we know how far this could go2  it  
is my whole point that we do not know1  
that we are in contact  with numbers of 
new things of which we know uncommonly  
little4  ,but the vital point is1 not   
that science deals with what we do not  
know1  but that science is destroying   
what we thought we did know4  ,nearly   
all the latest discoveries have been    
destructive1 not of the old  dogmas of  
religion1 but rather of the recent      
dogmas of science4  ,the conservation of
 energy could not itself be entirely    
conserved4  ,the atom was smashed to    
atoms4  ,and dancing to the tune  of    
,professor ,einstein1 even the law of   
gravity is behaving  with lamentable    

levity4    ,and when the man looks at   
the portrait of himself he really does  
not  see himself4  ,he sees his ,other  
,self1 which some say is the opposite   
of his ordinary self2 his ,subconscious 
,self or his ,subliminal ,self1  said to
 rage and rule in his dreams1 or a      
suppressed self which hates him  though 
it is hidden from him2 or the ,alter    
,ego of a ,dual ,personality4  ,it is   
not to my present purpose to discuss the
 merit of  these speculations1 or       
whether they be medicinal or morbid4    
,my purpose is served in pointing out   
the plain historical fact2  that if you 
had talked to a ,utilitarian and        
,rationalist of ,bentham's time1  who   
told men to follow enlightened          
self-interest1 he would have been       
considerably bewildered if you had      
replied brightly and briskly1  ,and to  
which self do you refer2 the            
sub-conscious1 the conscious1  the      
latently criminal or suppressed1 or     
others that we fortunately have  in     

stock8  ,when the man looks at his own  
portrait in his own bedroom1  it does   
really melt into the face of a stranger 
or flicker into  the face of a fiend4   
,when he looks at the bedroom itself1 in
 short1  it becomes clearer and clearer 
that it is exactly this comfortable  and
 solid part of the vision that is       
altering and breaking up4  ,it is the   
walls and furniture that are only a     
dream or memory4  ,and when he looks    
again at the incongruous rose-bush1 he  
seems  to smell as well as see2 and he  
stretches forth his hand1 and his       
finger bleeds upon a thorn4    ,it will 
not be altogether surprising if the     
story ends with the man  recovering full
 consciousness1 and finding he has been 
convalescing in a  hammock in a         
rose-garden4 ,it is not so very         
unreasonable when you come  to think of 
it2 or at least when you come to think  
of the whole of it4  ,he was not wrong  
in thinking the whole must be a         
consistent whole1  and that one part    

seemed inconsistent with the other4  ,he
 was only wrong about which part was    
wrong through being inconsistent  with  
the other4  ,now the whole of the       
rationalistic doubt about  the          
,palestinian legends1 from its rise in  
the early eighteenth  century out of the
 last movements of the ,renascence1 was 
founded  on the fixity of facts4        
,miracles were monstrosities because    
they  were against natural law1 which   
was necessarily immutable law4  ,the    
prodigies of the ,old ,testament or the 
mighty works of the ,new  were          
extravagances because they were         
exceptions2 and they were  exceptions   
because there was a rule1 and that an   
immutable rule4  ,in short1 there was no
 rose-tree growing out of the carpet of 
a trim  and tidy bedroom2 because       
rose-trees do not grow out of carpets   
in trim and tidy bedrooms4  ,so far it  
seemed reasonable enough4  ,but it left 
out one possibility2 that a man can     
dream about a room  as well as a rose2  

and that a man can doubt about a rule as
 well  as an exception4    ,as soon as  
the men of science began to doubt the   
rules of the game1  the game was up4    
,they could no longer rule out all the  
old marvels  as impossible1 in face of  
the new marvels which they had to admit 
as possible4  ,they were themselves     
dealing now with a number of  unknown   
quantities2 what is the power of mind   
over matter2 when is  matter an illusion
 of mind2 what is identity1 what is     
individuality1  is there a limit to     
logic in the last extremes of           
mathematics8  ,they knew by a hundred   
hints that their non-miraculous world   
was no  longer watertight2 that floods  
were coming in from somewhere in which  
they were already out of their depth1   
and down among very fantastical         
deep-sea fishes4  ,they could hardly    
feel certain even about the fish  that  
swallowed ,jonah1 when they had no test 
except the very true  one that there are
 more fish in the sea than ever came out

 of it4  ,logically they would find it  
quite as hard to draw the line  at the  
miraculous draught of fishes4  ,i do not
 mean that they1  or even ,i1 need here 
depend on those particular stories2  ,i 
mean that the difficulty now is to draw 
a line1 and a new line1  after the      
obliteration of an old and much more    
obvious line4  ,any one can draw it for 
himself1 as a matter of mere taste in   
probability2  but we have not made a    
philosophy until we can draw it for     
others4  ,and the modern men of science 
cannot draw it for others4  ,men could  
easily mark the contrast between the    
force of gravity  and the fable of the  
,ascension4  ,they cannot all be made to
 see  any such contrast between the     
levitation that is now discussed as a   
possibility and the ascension which is  
still derided as a miracle4  ,i do not  
even say that there is not a great      
difference between them2  ,i say that   
science is now plunged too deep in new  
doubts  and possibilities to have       

authority to define the difference4  ,i 
say the more it knows of what seems to  
have happened1 or what is  said to have 
happened1 in many modern drawing-rooms1 
the less it  knows what did or did not  
happen on that lofty and legendary hill1
  where a spire rises over ,jerusalem   
and can be seen beyond ,jordan4    ,but 
with that part of the ,palestinian story
 which is told in the  ,new ,testament  
,i am not directly concerned till the   
next chapter2  and the matter here is a 
more general one4  ,the truth is that   
through  a thousand channels something  
has returned to the modern mind4  ,it is
 not ,christianity4  ,on the contrary1  
it would be truer  to say that it is    
paganism4  ,in reality it is in a very  
special  sense paganism2 because it is  
polytheism4  ,the word will startle     
many people1 but not the people who know
 the modern world best4  ,when ,i told a
 distinguished psychologist at ,oxford  
that ,i differed  from his view of the  
universe1 he answered1 ,why universe8   

,why should it not be a multiverse8     
,the essence of polytheism is  the      
worship of gods who are not ,god2 that  
is1 who are not necessarily  the author 
and the authority of all things4  ,men  
are feeling more  and more that there   
are many spiritual forces in the        
universe1  and the wisest men feel that 
some are to be trusted more than others4
  ,there will be a tendency1 ,i think1  
to take a favourite force1  or in other 
words a familiar spirit4  ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4  
,wells1 who is1  if anybody is1 a genius
 among moderns and a modern among       
geniuses1  really did this very thing2  
he selected a god who was really  more  
like a daemon4  ,he called his book     
,god1 the ,invisible ,king2  but the    
curious point was that he specially     
insisted that his ,god differed  from   
other people's ,god in the very fact    
that he was not a king4  ,he was very   
particular in explaining that his deity 
did not  rule in any almighty or        
infinite sense2 but merely influenced1  

like any wandering spirit4  ,nor was he 
particularly invisible1  if there can be
 said to be any degrees in invisibility4
  ,mr4 ,wells's ,invisible ,god was     
really like ,mr4 ,wells's ,invisible    
,man4  ,you almost felt he might appear 
at any moment1 at any rate to his  one  
devoted worshipper2 and that1 as if in  
old ,greece1 a glad cry  might ring     
through the woods of ,essex1 the voice  
of ,mr4 ,wells crying1  ,we have seen1  
he hath seen us1 a visible ,god4  ,i do 
not mean  this disrespectfully1 but on  
the contrary very sympathetically2  ,i  
think it worthy of so great a man to    
appreciate and answer the general  sense
 of a richer and more adventurous       
spiritual world around us4  ,it is a    
great emancipation from the leaden      
materialism which weighed  on men of    
imagination forty years ago4  ,but my   
point for the moment  is that the mode  
of the emancipation was pagan or even   
polytheistic1  in the real philosophical
 sense that it was the selection of a   

single spirit1 out of many there might  
be in the spiritual world4  ,the point  
is that while ,mr4 ,wells worships his  
god 7who is not his  creator or even    
necessarily his overlord7 there is      
nothing to prevent  ,mr4 ,william       
,archer1 also emancipated1 from adoring 
another god in  another temple2 or ,mr4 
,arnold ,bennett1 should he similarly   
liberate  his mind1 from bowing down to 
a third god in a third temple4  ,my     
imagination rather fails me1 ,i confess1
 in evoking the image  and symbolism of 
,mr4 ,bennett's or ,mr4 ,archer's       
idolatries2  and if ,i had to choose    
between the three1 ,i should probably be
 found  as an acolyte in the shrine of  
,mr4 ,wells4  ,but1 anyhow1 the trend   
of all this is to polytheism1 rather as 
it existed in the old  civilisation of  
paganism4    ,there is the same modern  
mark in ,spiritualism4  ,spiritualism   
also  has the trend of polytheism1 if it
 be in a form more akin to              
ancestor-worship4 ,but whether it be the

 invocation of ghosts or of gods1  the  
mark of it is that it invokes something 
less than the divine2  nor am ,i at all 
quarrelling with it on that account4  ,i
 am merely  describing the drift of the 
day2 and it seems clear that it is      
towards  the summoning of spirits to our
 aid whatever their position in the     
unknown world1 and without any clear    
doctrinal plan of that world4  ,the most
 probable result would seem to be a     
multitude of psychic cults1  personal   
and impersonal1 from the vaguest        
reverence for the powers  of nature to  
the most concrete appeal to crystals or 
mascots4  ,when ,i say that the         
agnostics have discovered agnosticism1  
and have now recovered from the shock1  
,i do not mean merely to sneer  at the  
identity of the word agnosticism with   
the word ignorance4  ,on the contrary1  
,i think ignorance the greater thing2   
for ignorance  can be creative4  ,and   
the thing it can create1 and soon       
probably  will create1 is one of the    

lost arts of the world2 a mythology4    
,in a word1 the modern world will       
probably end exactly where the  ,bible  
begins4  ,in that inevitable setting of 
spirit against spirit1  or god against  
god1 we shall soon be in a position to  
do more  justice not only to the ,new   
,testament1 but to the ,old ,testament4 
,our descendants may very possibly do   
the very thing we scoff  at the old     
,jews for doing2 grope for and cling to 
their own  deity as one rising above    
rivals who seem to be equally real4     
,they also may feel him not primarily as
 the sole or even the supreme  but only 
as the best2 and have to abide the      
miracles of ages to prove  that he is   
also the mightiest4  ,for them also he  
may at first  be felt as their own1     
before he is extended to others2 he     
also1  from the collision with colossal 
idolatries and towering spiritual       
tyrannies1 may emerge only as a ,god of 
,battles and a ,lord of ,hosts4  ,here  
between the dark wastes and the clouded 

mountain was fought  out what must seem 
even to the indifferent a wrestle of    
giants  driving the world out of its    
course2 ,jehovah of the mountains       
casting down ,baal of the desert and    
,dagon of the sea4  ,here wandered  and 
endured that strange and terrible and   
tenacious people who held  high above   
all their virtues and their vices one   
indestructible idea2  that they were but
 the tools in that tremendous hand4     
,here was the first triumph of those    
who1 in some sense beyond  our          
understanding1 had rightly chosen among 
the powers invisible1  and found their  
choice a great god above all gods4  ,so 
the future  may suffer not from the loss
 but the multiplicity of faith2  and its
 fate be far more like the cloudy and   
mythological war  in the desert than    
like the dry radiance of theism or      
monism4  ,i have said nothing here of my
 own faith1 or of that name on which1   
,i am well persuaded1 the world will be 
most wise to call4  ,but ,i do believe  

that the tradition founded in that far  
tribal battle1  in that far ,eastern    
land1 did indeed justify itself by      
leading  up to a lasting truth2 and that
 it will once again be justified  of all
 its children4  ,what has survived      
through an age of atheism  as the most  
indestructible would survive through an 
age of polytheism  as the most          
indispensable4  ,if among many gods it  
could not presently  be proved to be the
 strongest1 some would still know it was
 the best4  ,its central presence would 
endure through times of cloud and       
confusion1  in which it was judged only 
as a myth among myths or a man among    
men4  ,even the old heathen test of     
humanity and the apparition of the body1
  touching which ,i have quoted the     
verse about the pagan polytheist  as    
sung by the neo-pagan poet1 is a test   
which that incarnate  mystery will abide
 the best4  ,and however much or little 
our  spiritual inquirers may lift the   
veil from their invisible kings1  they  

will not find a vision more vivid than a
 man walking unveiled  upon the         
mountains1 seen of men and seeing2 a    
visible god4        ,,chapter ,,ix      
,,the ,,battle ,,with ,,the ,,dragon    
,lydda or ,ludd has already been noted  
as the legendary birthplace  of ,st4    
,george1 and as the camp on the edge of 
the desert from which1  as it happened1 
,i caught the first glimpse of the      
coloured  fields of ,palestine that     
looked like the fields of ,paradise4    
,being an encampment of soldiers1 it    
seems an appropriate place for  ,st4    
,george2 and indeed it may be said that 
all that red and empty land  has        
resounded with his name like a shield of
 copper or of bronze4  ,the name was not
 even confined to the cries of the      
,christians2  a curious imaginative     
hospitality in the ,moslem mind1 a      
certain innocent  and imitative         
enthusiasm1 made the ,moslems also      
half-accept a sort  of ,christian       
mythology1 and make an abstract hero of 

,st4 ,george4  ,it is said that ,coeur  
de ,lion on these very sands first      
invoked  the soldier saint to bless the 
,english battle-line1 and blazon his    
cross  on the ,english banners4  ,but   
the name occurs not only in the stories 
of the victory of ,richard1 but in the  
enemy stories that led up  to the great 
victory of ,saladin4  ,in that obscure  
and violent quarrel  which let loose the
 disaster of ,hattin1 when the ,grand   
,master  of the ,templars1 ,gerard the  
,englishman from ,bideford in ,devon1   
drove with demented heroism his few     
lances against a host1 there fell  among
 those radiant fanatics one ,christian  
warrior1 who had made  with his single  
sword such a circle of the slain1 that  
the victorious  ,moslems treated even   
his dead body as something supernatural2
  and bore it away with them with       
honour1 saying it was the body  of ,st4 
,george4    ,but if the purpose of the  
camp be appropriate to the story of ,st4
 ,george1  the position of the camp     

might be considered appropriate to the  
more  fantastic story of ,st4 ,george   
and the ,dragon4  ,the symbolic struggle
  between man and monster might very    
well take place somewhere where  the    
green culture of the fields meets the   
red desolation of the desert4  ,as a    
matter of fact1 ,i dare say1 legend     
locates the duel itself  somewhere else1
 but ,i am only making use of the legend
 as a legend1  or even as a convenient  
figure of speech4  ,i would only use it 
here to make a kind of picture which may
 clarify a kind of paradox1  very vital 
to our present attitude towards all     
,palestinian traditions1  including     
those that are more sacred even than    
,st4 ,george4  ,this paradox  has       
already been touched on in the last     
chapter about polytheistic  spirits or  
superstitions such as surrounded the    
,old ,testament1  but it is yet more    
true of the criticisms and apologetics  
surrounding  the ,new ,testament4  ,and 
the paradox is this2 that we never find 

our own religion so right as when we    
find we are wrong about it4  ,i mean    
that we are finally convinced not by the
 sort of evidence we  are looking for1  
but by the sort of evidence we are not  
looking for4  ,we are convinced when we 
come on a ratification that is almost as
 abrupt  as a refutation4  ,that is the 
point about the wireless telegraphy  or 
wordless telepathy of the ,bedouins4  ,a
 supernatural trick in a dingy  tribe   
wandering in dry places is not the sort 
of supernaturalism  we should expect to 
find2 it is only the sort that we do    
find4  ,these rocks of the desert1 like 
the bones of a buried giant1  do not    
seem to stick out where they ought to1  
but they stick out1  and we fall over   
them4    ,whatever we think of ,st4     
,george1 most people would see a mere   
fairy-tale in ,st4 ,george and the      
,dragon4  ,i dare say they are right2   
and ,i only use it here as a figure for 
the sake of argument4  ,but suppose1 for
 the sake of argument1 that a man has   

come to  the conclusion that there      
probably was such a person as ,st4      
,george1  in spite of all the nonsense  
about dragons and the chimera with wings
  and claws that has somehow            
interwreathed itself with his image4    
,perhaps he is a little biased by       
patriotism or other ethical aims2  and  
thinks the saint a good social ideal4   
,perhaps he knows that  early           
,christianity1 so far from being a      
religion of pacifists1  was largely a   
religion of soldiers4  ,anyhow he thinks
 ,st4 ,george  himself a quite          
sufficiently solid and historical       
figure2  and has little doubt that      
records or traces can be found of him4  
,now the point is this2 suppose that man
 goes to the land of  the legendary     
combat2 and finds comparatively few or  
faint traces  of the personality of ,st4
 ,george4  ,but suppose he does find1   
on that very field of combat1 the bones 
of a gigantic monster unlike  every     
other creature except the legendary     

dragon4  ,or suppose he only  finds     
ancient ,eastern sculptures and         
hieroglyphics representing maidens1     
being sacrificed to such a monster1 and 
making it quite clear that  even within 
historic times one of those sacrificed  
was a princess4  ,it is surely clear    
that he will be considerably impressed  
by  this confirmation1 not of the part  
he did believe1 but actually  of the    
part he did not believe4  ,he has not   
found what he expected  but he has found
 what he wanted1 and much more than he  
wanted4  ,he has not found a single     
detail directly in support of ,st4      
,george4  ,but he had found a very      
considerable support of ,st4 ,george    
and the ,dragon4    ,it is needless to  
inform the reader1 ,i trust1 that ,i do 
not think  this particular case in the  
least likely2 or that ,i am only using  
it  for the sake of lucidity4  ,even as 
it stands1 it would not necessarily     
make a man believe the traditional      
story1 but it would make him  guess that

 it was some sort of tradition of some  
sort of truth2  that there was something
 in it1 and much more in it than even   
he himself had imagined4  ,and the point
 of it would be precisely  that his     
reason had not anticipated the extent of
 his revelation4  ,he has proved the    
improbable1 not the probable thing4     
,reason had already taught him the      
reasonable part2 but facts had  taught  
him the fantastic part4  ,he will       
certainly conclude that  the whole story
 is very much more valid than anybody   
has supposed4  ,now as ,i have already  
said1 it is not in the least likely that
  this will happen touching this        
particular tale of ,palestine4  ,but    
this is precisely what really has       
happened touching  the most sacred and  
tremendous of all the tales of          
,palestine4  ,this is precisely what has
 happened touching that central figure1 
round which the monster and the champion
 are alike only  ornamental symbols2 and
 by the right of whose tragedy even     

,st4 ,george's ,cross does not belong to
 ,st4 ,george4  ,it is not likely  to be
 true of the desert duel between ,george
 and the ,dragon2  but it is already    
true of the desert duel between ,jesus  
and the ,devil4  ,st4 ,george is but a  
servant and the ,dragon is but a symbol1
  but it is precisely about the central 
reality1 the mystery of ,christ  and    
,his mastery of the powers of darkness1 
that this very paradox  has proved      
itself a fact4    ,going down from      
,jerusalem to ,jericho ,i was more than 
once  moved by a flippant and possibly  
profane memory of the swine  that rushed
 down a steep place into the sea4  ,i do
 not insist on  the personal parallel2  
for whatever my points of resemblance to
 a pig  ,i am not a flying pig1 a pig   
with wings of speed and precipitancy2   
and if ,i am possessed of a devil1 it is
 not the blue devil of suicide4  ,but   
the phrase came back into my mind       
because going down to  the ,dead ,sea   
does really involve rushing down a steep

 place4  ,indeed it gives a strange     
impression that the whole of ,palestine 
is one single steep place4  ,it is as if
 all other countries lay  flat under the
 sky1 but this one country had been     
tilted sideways4  ,this gigantic gesture
 of geography or geology1 this sweep  as
 of a universal landslide1 is the sort  
of thing that is never  conveyed by any 
maps or books or even pictures4  ,all   
the pictures  of ,palestine ,i have seen
 are descriptive details1 groups of     
costume  or corners of architecture1 at 
most views of famous places2  they      
cannot give the bottomless vision of    
this long descent4  ,we went in a little
 rocking ,ford car down steep and jagged
 roads  among ribbed and columned       
cliffs2 but the roads below soon failed 
us altogether2 and the car had to tumble
 like a tank over rocky  banks and into 
empty river-beds1 long before it came to
 the sinister  and discoloured          
landscapes of the ,dead ,sea4  ,and the 
distance looks  far enough on the map1  

and seems long enough in the motor      
journey1  to make a man feel he has come
 to another part of the world2  yet so  
much is it all a single fall of land    
that even when he gets  out beyond      
,jordan in the wild country of the      
,shereef he can still  look back and    
see1 small and faint as if in the       
clouds1 the spire  of the ,russian      
church 7,i fancy7 upon the hill of the  
,ascension4  ,and though the story of   
the swine is attached in truth to       
another place1  ,i was still haunted    
with its fanciful appropriateness to    
this one1  because of the very steepness
 of this larger slope and the mystery   
of that larger sea4  ,i even had the    
fancy that one might fish  for them and 
find them in such a sea1 turned into    
monsters2  sea-swine or four-legged     
fishes1 swollen and with evil eyes1     
grown over with sea-grass for bristles2 
the ghosts of ,gadara4    ,and then it  
came back to me1 as a curiosity and     
almost a coincidence1  that the same    

strange story had actually been selected
 as the text  for the central           
controversy of the ,victorian ,age      
between ,christianity  and criticism4   
,the two champions were two of the      
greatest men  of the nineteenth century2
 ,huxley representing scientific        
scepticism  and ,gladstone scriptural   
orthodoxy4  ,the scriptural champion    
was universally regarded as standing for
 the past1 if not for the  dead past2   
and the scientific champion as standing 
for the future1  if not the final       
judgment of the world4  ,and yet the    
future  has been entirely different to  
anything that anybody expected2  and the
 final judgment may yet reverse all the 
conceptions of their  contemporaries and
 even of themselves4  ,the philosophical
 position  now is in a very curious way 
the contrary of the position then4      
,gladstone had the worst of the         
argument1 and has been proved right4    
,huxley had the best of the argument1   
and has been proved wrong4  ,at any rate

 he has been ultimately proved wrong    
about the way the world  was going1 and 
the probable position of the next       
generation4  ,what he thought           
indisputable is disputed2 and what he   
thought dead  is rather too much alive4 
,huxley was not only a man of genius in 
logic and rhetoric2 he was  a man of a  
very manly and generous morality4       
,morally he deserves  much more sympathy
 than many of the mystics who have      
supplanted him4  ,but they have         
supplanted him4  ,in the more mental    
fashions  of the day1 most of what he   
thought would stand has fallen1  and    
most of what he thought would fall is   
standing yet4  ,in the ,gadarene        
controversy with ,gladstone1 he         
announced it  as his purpose to purge   
the ,christian ideal1 which he thought  
self-evidently sublime1 of the          
,christian demonology1 which he thought 
self-evidently ridiculous4  ,and yet if 
we take any typical man  of the next    
generation1 we shall very probably find 

,huxley's sublime  thing scoffed at1 and
 ,huxley's ridiculous thing taken       
seriously4  ,i imagine a very typical   
child of the age succeeding ,huxley's   
may  be found in ,mr4 ,george ,moore4   
,he has one of the most critical1       
appreciative and atmospheric talents of 
the age4  ,he has lived in most  of the 
sets of the age1 and through most of the
 fashions of the age4  ,he has held1 at 
one time or another1 most of the        
opinions of the age4  ,above all1 he has
 not only thought for himself1 but done 
it  with peculiar pomp and pride2 he    
would consider himself the freest  of   
all freethinkers4  ,let us take him as a
 type and a test of what has  really    
happened to ,huxley's analysis of the   
gold and the dross4  ,huxley quoted as  
the indestructible ideal the noble      
passage in ,micah1  beginning ,he hath  
shewed thee1 ,o man1 that which is good2
  and asked scornfully whether anybody  
was ever likely to suggest  that justice
 was worthless or that mercy was        

unlovable1  and whether anything would  
diminish the distance between ourselves 
and the ideals that we reverence4  ,and 
yet already1 perhaps1  ,mr4 ,george     
,moore was anticipating ,nietzsche1     
sailing near1  as he said1 the sunken   
rocks about the cave of ,zarathustra4   
,he said1 if ,i remember right1 that    
,cromwell should be admired  for his    
injustice4  ,he implied that ,christ    
should be condemned1  not because he    
destroyed the swine1 but because he     
delivered the sick4  ,in short he found 
justice quite worthless and mercy quite 
unlovable2  and as for humility and the 
distance between himself and his ideals1
  he seemed rather to suggest 7at this  
time at least7 that his somewhat        
varying ideals were only interesting    
because they had belonged  to himself4  
,some of this1 it is true1 was only in  
the ,confessions  of a ,young ,man2 but 
it is the whole point here that they    
were then  the confessions of a young   
man1 and that ,huxley's in comparison   

were the confessions of an old man4     
,the trend of the new time1  in very    
varying degrees1 was tending to         
undermine1 not merely  the ,christian   
demonology1 not merely the ,christian   
theology1  not merely the ,christian    
religion1 but definitely the ,christian 
ethical ideal1 which had seemed to the  
great agnostic as secure  as the stars4 
,but while the world was mocking the    
morality he had assumed1  it was        
bringing back the mysticism he had      
mocked4  ,the next phase  of ,mr4       
,george ,moore himself1 whom ,i have    
taken as a type of the time1  was the   
serious and sympathetic consideration of
 ,irish mysticism1  as embodied in ,mr4 
,w4 ,b4 ,yeats4  ,i have myself heard   
,mr4 ,yeats1  about that time1 tell a   
story1 to illustrate how concrete and   
even  comic is the reality of the       
supernatural1 saying that he knew  a    
farmer whom the fairies had dragged out 
of bed and beaten4  ,now suppose ,mr4   
,yeats had told ,mr4 ,moore1 then moving

 in this  glamorous atmosphere1 another 
story of the same sort4  ,suppose he had
 said that the farmer's pigs had fallen 
under  the displeasure of some magician 
of the sort he celebrates1  who had     
conjured bad fairies into the           
quadrupeds1 so that they  went in a wild
 dance down to the village pond4  ,would
 ,mr4 ,moore  have thought that story   
any more incredible than the other8     
,would he have thought it worse than a  
thousand other things that a  modern    
mystic may lawfully believe8  ,would he 
have risen to his feet  and told ,mr4   
,yeats that all was over between them8  
,not a bit of it4  ,he would at least   
have listened with a serious1 nay1 a    
solemn face4  ,he would think it a grim 
little grotesque of rustic diablerie1  a
 quaint tale of goblins1 neither less   
nor more improbable  than hundreds of   
psychic fantasies or farces for which   
there is  really a good deal of         
evidence4  ,he would be ready to        
entertain  the idea if he found it      

anywhere except in the ,new ,testament4 
,as for the more vulgar and universal   
fashions that have followed  after the  
,celtic movement1 they have left such   
trifles far behind4  ,and they have been
 directed not by imaginative artists    
like ,mr4 ,yeats or even ,mr4 ,moore1   
but by solid scientific  students like  
,sir ,william ,crookes and ,sir ,arthur 
,conan ,doyle4  ,i find it easier to    
imagine an evil spirit agitating the    
legs  of a pig than a good spirit       
agitating the legs of a table4  ,but ,i 
will not here enter into the argument1  
since ,i am only  trying to describe the
 atmosphere4  ,whatever has happened in 
more  recent years1 what ,huxley        
expected has certainly not happened4    
,there has been a revolt against        
,christian morality1 and where there    
has not been a return of ,christian     
mysticism1 it has been a return of  the 
mysticism without the ,christianity4    
,mysticism itself has returned1  with   
all its moons and twilights1 its        

talismans and spells4  ,mysticism itself
 has returned1 and brought with it seven
 devils  worse than itself4    ,but the 
scientific coincidence is even more     
strict and close4  ,it affects not only 
the general question of miracles1  but  
the particular question of possession4  
,this is the very  last element in the  
,christian story that would ever have   
been  selected by the enlightened       
,christian apologist4  ,gladstone would 
defend it1 but he would not go out of   
his way to dwell on it4  ,it is an      
excellent working model of what ,i mean 
by finding  an unexpected support1 and  
finding it in an unexpected quarter4    
,it is not theological but psychological
 study that has brought us  back into   
this dark underworld of the soul1 where 
even identity  seems to dissolve or     
divide1 and men are not even themselves4
  ,i do not say that psychologists admit
 the discovery of demoniacs2  and if    
they did they would doubtless call them 
something else1  such as demono-maniacs4

 ,but they admit things which seem      
almost  as near to a new                
supernaturalism1 and things quite as    
incredible  to the old rationalism4     
,dual personality is not so very far    
from diabolic possession4  ,and if the  
dogma of subconsciousness  allows of    
agnosticism1 the agnosticism cuts both  
ways4  ,a man cannot say there is a part
 of him of which he is quite            
unconscious1  and only conscious that it
 is not in contact with the unknown4    
,he cannot say there is a sealed chamber
 or cellar under his house1  of which he
 knows nothing whatever2 but that he is 
quite certain that it  cannot have an   
underground passage leading anywhere    
else in the world4  ,he cannot say he   
knows nothing whatever about its size or
 shape  or appearance1 except that it   
certainly does not contain a relic  of  
the finger-joint of ,st4 ,catherine of  
,alexandria1 or that it  certainly is   
not haunted by the ghost of ,king ,herod
 ,agrippa4  ,if there is any sort of    

legend or tradition or plausible        
probability  which says that it is1 he  
cannot call a thing impossible where he 
is  not only ignorant but even          
unconscious4  ,it comes back therefore  
to the same reality1 that the old       
compact cosmos depended on a  compact   
consciousness4  ,if we are dealing with 
unknown quantities1  we cannot deny     
their connection with other unknown     
quantities4  ,if ,i have a self of which
 ,i can say nothing1 how can ,i even say
  that it is my own self8  ,how can ,i  
even say that ,i always had it1  or that
 it did not come from somewhere else8   
,it is clear that we  are in very deep  
waters1 whether or no we have rushed    
down a steep  place to fall into them4  
,it will be noted that what we really   
lack here is not  the supernatural but  
only the healthy supernatural4  ,it is  
not the miracle1 but only the miracle of
 healing4  ,i warmly sympathise with    
those who think most of this rather     
morbid1  and nearer the diabolic than   

the divine1 but to call a thing         
diabolic is hardly an argument against  
the existence of diabolism4  ,it is     
still more clearly the case when we go  
outside the sphere  of science into its 
penumbra in literature and conversation4
  ,there is a mass of fiction and       
fashionable talk of which it may  truly 
be said1 that what we miss in it is not 
demons but the power  to cast them out4 
,it combines the occult with the        
obscene2  the sensuality of materialism 
with the insanity of spiritualism4  ,in 
the story of ,gadara we have left out   
nothing except the ,redeemer1  we have  
kept the devils and the swine4    ,in   
other words1 we have not found ,st4     
,george2 but we have found  the ,dragon4
  ,we have found in the desert1 as ,i   
have said1  the bones of the monster we 
did not believe in1 more plainly than   
the footprints of the hero we did4  ,we 
have found them not because we  expected
 to find them1 for our progressive minds
 look to the promise  of something much 

brighter and even better2 not because we
 wanted  to find them1 for our modern   
mood1 as well as our human nature1  is  
entirely in favour of more amiable and  
reassuring things2  not because we      
thought it even possible to find them1  
for we really  thought it impossible so 
far as we ever thought of it at all4    
,we have found them because they are    
there2 and we are bound  to come on them
 even by falling over them4  ,it is     
,huxley's  method that has upset        
,huxley's conclusion4  ,as ,i have said1
  that conclusion itself is completely  
reversed4  ,what he thought             
indisputable is disputed2 and what he   
thought impossible is possible4         
,instead of ,christian morals surviving 
in the form of humanitarian morals1     
,christian demonology has survived in   
the form of heathen demonology4  ,but it
 has not survived by scholarly          
traditionalism in the style  of         
,gladstone1 but rather by obstinate     
objective curiosity according  to the   

advice of ,huxley4  ,we in the ,west    
have followed our reason  as far as it  
would go1 and our reason has led us to  
things that  nearly all the rationalists
 would have thought wildly irrational4  
,science was supposed to bully us into  
being rationalists2  but it is now      
supposed to be bullying us into being   
irrationalists4  ,the science of        
,einstein might rather be called        
following our  unreason as far as it    
will go1 seeing whether the brain will  
crack  under the conception that space  
is curved1 or that parallel  straight   
lines always meet4  ,and the science of 
,freud would make it  essentially       
impossible to say how far our reason or 
unreason does go1  or where it stops4   
,for if a man is ignorant of his other  
self1  how can he possibly know that the
 other self is ignorant8  ,he can no    
longer say with pride that at least he  
knows that  he knows nothing4  ,that is 
exactly what he does not know4  ,the    
floor has fallen out of his mind and the

 abyss below may  contain subconscious  
certainties as well as subconscious     
doubts4  ,he is too ignorant even to    
ignore2 and he must confess himself  an 
agnostic about whether he is an         
agnostic4    ,that is the coil or       
tangle1 at least1 which the dragon has  
reached  even in the scientific regions 
of the ,west4  ,i only describe  the    
tangle2 ,i do not delight in it4  ,like 
most people with a taste  for ,catholic 
tradition1 ,i am too much of a          
rationalist for that2  for ,catholics   
are almost the only people now defending
 reason4  ,but ,i am not talking of the 
true relations of reason and mystery1   
but of the historical fact that mystery 
has invaded the peculiar  realms of     
reason2 especially the ,european realms 
of the motor  and the telephone4  ,when 
we have a man like ,mr4 ,william        
,archer1  lecturing mystically on dreams
 and psychoanalysis1 and saying  it is  
clear that ,god did not make man a      
reasonable creature1  those acquainted  

with the traditions and distinguished   
record  of that dry and capable ,scot   
will consider the fact a prodigy4  ,i   
confess it never occurred to me that    
,mr4 ,archer was of such stuff  as      
dreams are made of2 and if he is        
becoming a mystic in his old age  7,i   
use the phrase in a mystical and merely 
relative sense7  we may take it that the
 occult oriental flood is rising fast1  
and reaching places that are not only   
high but dry4  ,but the change is much  
more apparent to a man who has chanced  
to stray into those orient hills where  
those occult streams  have always risen1
 and especially in this land that lies  
between ,asia1 where the occult is      
almost the obvious1 and ,europe1  where 
it is always returning with a fresher   
and younger vigour4  ,the truth becomes 
strangely luminous in this wilderness   
between  two worlds1 where the rocks    
stand out stark like the very bones  of 
the ,dragon4    ,as ,i went down that   
sloping wall or shoulder of the world   

from the ,holy ,city on the mountain to 
the buried ,cities of  the ,plain1 ,i   
seemed to see more and more clearly all 
this ,western  evolution of ,eastern    
mystery1 and how on this one high place1
  as on a pivot1 the whole purpose of   
mankind had swerved4  ,i took up again  
the train of thought which ,i had       
trailed through  the desert1 as         
described in the last chapter1 about the
 gods of ,asia  and of the ancient      
dispensation1 and ,i found it led me    
along  these hills to a sort of vista or
 vision of the new dispensation  and of 
,christendom4  ,considered objectively1 
and from the outside1  the story is     
something such as has already been      
loosely outlined2  the emergence in this
 immemorial and mysterious land of what 
was undoubtedly1 when thus considered1  
one tribe among many  tribes worshipping
 one god among many gods1 but it is     
quite  as much an evident external fact 
that the god has become ,god4  ,still   
stated objectively1 the story is that   

the tribe having this  religion produced
 a new prophet1 claiming to be more than
 a prophet4  ,the old religion killed   
the new prophet2 but the new prophet    
killed  the old religion4  ,he died to  
destroy it1 and it died in destroying   
him4  ,now it may be reaffirmed equally 
realistically that there was nothing    
normal about the case or its            
consequences4  ,the things that took    
part  in that tragedy have never been   
the same since1 and have never been     
like anything else in the world4  ,the  
,church is not like other religions2    
its very crimes were unique4  ,the ,jews
 are not like other races2  they remain 
as unique to everybody else as they are 
to themselves4  ,the ,roman ,empire did 
not pass like other empires2 it did not 
perish  like ,babylon and ,assyria4  ,it
 went through a most extraordinary      
remorse amounting to madness and        
resuscitation into sanity1  which is    
equally strange in history whether it   
seems as ghastly  as a galvanised corpse

 or as glorious as a god risen from the 
dead4  ,the very land and city are not  
like other lands and cities4  ,the      
concentration and conflict in ,jerusalem
 to-day1 whether we  regard them as a   
reconquest by ,christendom or a         
conspiracy of ,jews  or a part of the   
lingering quarrel with ,moslems1 are    
alike the effect  of forces gathered and
 loosened in that one mysterious moment 
in the history of the city4  ,they      
equally proclaim the paradox  of its    
insignificance and its importance4      
,but above all the prophet was not and  
is not like other prophets2  and the    
proof of it is to be found not primarily
 among  those who believe in him1 but   
among those who do not4  ,he is not     
dead1 even where he is denied4  ,what is
 the use of a modern  man saying that   
,christ is only a thing like ,atys or   
,mithras1  when the next moment he is   
reproaching ,christianity for not       
following ,christ8  ,he does not        
suddenly lose his temper and talk  about

 our most unmithraic conduct1 as he does
 7very justly as a rule7  about our most
 unchristian conduct4  ,we do not find a
 group of ardent  young agnostics1 in   
the middle of a great war1 tried as     
traitors  for their extravagant         
interpretation of remarks attributed to 
,atys4  ,it is improbable that ,tolstoy 
wrote a book to prove that all modern   
ills could be cured by literal obedience
 to all the orders of ,adonis4  ,we do  
not find wild ,bolshevists calling      
themselves ,mithraic ,socialists  as    
many of them call themselves ,christian 
,socialists4  ,leaving orthodoxy  and   
even sanity entirely on one side1 the   
very heresies and insanities  of our    
time prove that after nearly two        
thousand years the issue  is still      
living and the name is quite literally  
one to conjure with4  ,let the critics  
try to conjure with any of the other    
names4  ,in the real centres of modern  
inquiry and mental activity1  they will 
not move even a mystic with the name of 

,mithras  as they will move a           
materialist with the name of ,jesus4    
,there are men who deny ,god and accept 
,christ4    ,but this lingering yet     
living power in the legend1 even for    
those to whom it is little more than a  
legend1 has another  relevancy to the   
particular point here4  ,jesus of       
,nazareth1  merely humanly considered1  
has thus become a hero of               
humanitarianism4  ,even the             
eighteenth-century deists in denying his
 divinity generally  took pains to exalt
 his humanity4  ,of the                 
nineteenth-century  revolutionists it is
 really an understatement to say that   
they exalted  him as a man2 for indeed  
they rather exalted him as a superman4  
,that is to say1 many of them           
represented him as a man preaching  a   
decisively superior and ever strange    
morality1 not only  in advance of his   
age but practically in advance of our   
age4  ,they made of his mystical        
counsels of perfection a sort of        

,socialism  or ,pacifism or ,communism1 
which they themselves still see rather  
as something that ought to be or that   
will be2 the extreme limit  of universal
 love4  ,i am not discussing here       
whether they are  right or not2 ,i say  
they have in fact found in the same     
figure  a type of humanitarianism and   
the care for human happiness4  ,every   
one knows the striking and sometimes    
staggering utterances  that do really   
support and illustrate this side of the 
teaching4  ,modern idealists are        
naturally moved by such things as the   
intensely  poetic paradox about the     
lilies of the field2 which for them has 
a joy in life and living things like    
that of ,shelley or ,whitman1  combined 
with a return to simplicity beyond that 
of ,tolstoy or ,thoreau4  ,indeed ,i    
rather wonder that those1 whose merely  
historic or humanistic  view of the case
 would allow of such criticism without  
incongruity1  have not made some study  
of the purely poetical or oratorical    

structure  of such passages4  ,certainly
 there are few finer examples of the    
swift  architecture of style than that  
single fragment about the flowers2  the 
almost idle opening of a chance         
reference to a wild flower1  the sudden 
unfolding of the small purple blossom   
into pavilions  and palaces and the     
great name of the national history2 and 
then with  a turn of the hand like a    
gesture of scorn1 the change to the     
grass  that to-day is and to-morrow is  
cast into the oven4  ,then follows1  as 
so often in the ,gospels1 the how much  
more which is like a  celestial flight  
of stairs1 a ladder of imaginative      
logic4  ,indeed this  a fortiori1 and   
this power of thinking on three levels1 
is 7,i may  remark incidentally7 a thing
 very much needed in modern discussion4 
,many minds apparently cannot stretch to
 three dimensions1  or to thinking that 
a cube can go beyond a surface as a     
surface  goes beyond a line2 for        
instance1 that the citizen is infinitely

  above all ranks1 and yet the soul is  
infinitely above the citizen4  ,but we  
are only concerned at the moment with   
the sides of this  many-sided mystery   
which happen to be really in sympathy   
with  the modern mood4  ,judged even by 
our modern tests of emancipated  art or 
ideal economics1 it is admitted that    
,christ understood all  that is rather  
crudely embodied in ,socialism or the   
,simple ,life4  ,i purposely insist     
first on this optimistic1 ,i might      
almost say this  pantheistic or even    
this pagan aspect of the ,christian     
,gospels4  ,for it is only when we      
understand that ,christ1 considered     
merely  as a prophet1 can be and is a   
popular leader in the love of natural   
things1 that we can feel that tremendous
 and tragic energy of his  testimony to 
an ugly reality1 the existence of       
unnatural things4  ,instead of taking a 
text as ,i have done1 take a whole      
,gospel and read  it steadily and       
honestly and straight through at a      

sitting1 and you  will certainly have   
one impression1 whether of a myth or of 
a man4  ,it is that the exorcist towers 
above the poet and even the prophet2    
that the story between ,cana and        
,calvary is one long war with demons4   
,he understood better than a hundred    
poets the beauty of  the flowers of the 
battle-field2 but he came out to battle4
  ,and if most of his words mean        
anything they do mean that there  is at 
our very feet1 like a chasm concealed   
among the flowers1  an unfathomable     
evil4    ,in short1 ,i would here only  
hint delicately that perhaps  the mind  
which admittedly knew much of what we   
think we know  about ethics and         
economics1 knew a little more than we   
are  beginning to know about psychology 
and psychic phenomena4  ,i remember     
reading1 not without amusement1 a severe
 and trenchant  article in the ,hibbert 
,journal1 in which ,christ's admission  
of demonology was alone thought enough  
to dispose of his divinity4  ,the one   

sentence of the article1 which ,i       
cherish in my memory  through all the   
changing years1 ran thus3  ,if he was   
,god1  he knew there was no such thing  
as diabolical possession4  ,it did not  
seem to strike the ,hibbert critic that 
this line  of criticism raises the      
question1 not of whether ,christ is     
,god1  but of whether the critic in the 
,hibbert ,journal is ,god4  ,about that 
mystery as about the other ,i am for the
 moment agnostic2  but ,i should have   
thought that the meditations of         
,omniscience  on the problem of evil    
might be allowed1 even by an agnostic1  
to be a little difficult to discover4   
,of ,christ in the ,gospels  and in     
modern life ,i will merely for the      
moment say this2 that if  he was ,god1  
as the critic put it1 it seems possible 
that he knew  the next discovery in     
science1 as well as the last1 not to    
mention  7what is more common in        
rationalistic culture7 the last but     
three4  ,and what will be the next      

discovery in psychological science      
nobody  can imagine2 and we can only say
 that if it reveals demons and their    
name is ,legion1 we can hardly be much  
surprised now4  ,but at any rate  the   
days are over of ,omniscience like that 
of the ,hibbert critic1  who knows      
exactly what he would know if he were   
,god ,almighty4  ,what is pain8  ,what  
is evil8  ,what did they mean by devils8
  ,what do we mean by madness8  ,the    
rising generation1 when asked  by a     
venerable ,victorian critic and         
catechist1 ,what does ,god know8  will  
hardly think it unreasonably flippant to
 answer1 ,god knows4    ,there was      
something already suggested about the   
steep scenery  through which ,i went as 
,i thought about these things2 a sense  
of silent catastrophe and fundamental   
cleavage in the deep  division of the   
cliffs and crags4  ,they were all the   
more  profoundly moving1 because my     
sense of them was almost as             
subconscious as the subconsciousness    

about which ,i was reflecting4  ,i had  
fallen again into the old habit of      
forgetting where ,i was going1  and     
seeing things with one eye off1 in a    
blind abstraction4  ,i awoke from a sort
 of trance of absentmindedness in a     
landscape  that might well awaken       
anybody4  ,it might awaken a man        
sleeping2  but he would think he was    
still in a nightmare4  ,it might wake   
the dead1 but they would probably think 
they were in hell4  ,halfway down the   
slope the hills had taken on a certain  
pallor which had  about it something    
primitive1 as if the colours were not   
yet created4  ,there was only a kind of 
cold and wan blue in the level skies    
which  contrasted with wild sky-line4   
,perhaps we are accustomed to the       
contrary  condition of the clouds moving
 and mutable and the hills solid and    
serene2  but anyhow there seemed        
something of the making of a new world  
about  the quiet of the skies and the   
cold convulsion of the landscape4  ,but 

if it was between chaos and creation1 it
 was creation by ,god  or at least by   
the gods1 something with an aim in its  
anarchy4  ,it was very different in the 
final stage of the descent1 where my    
mind  woke up from its meditations4     
,one can only say that the whole        
landscape  was like a leper4  ,it was of
 a wasting white and silver and grey1   
with mere dots of decadent vegetation   
like the green spots of a plague4  ,in  
shape it not only rose into horns and   
crests like waves  or clouds1 but ,i    
believe it actually alters like waves or
 clouds1  visibly but with a loathsome  
slowness4  ,the swamp is alive4  ,and ,i
 found again a certain advantage in     
forgetfulness2  for ,i saw all this     
incredible country before ,i even       
remembered  its name1 or the ancient    
tradition about its nature4  ,then even 
the green plague-spots failed1 and      
everything seemed  to fall away into a  
universal blank under the staring sun1  
as ,i came1 in the great spaces of the  

circle of a lifeless sea1  into the     
silence of ,sodom and ,gomorrah4    ,for
 these are the foundations of a fallen  
world1 and a sea  below the seas on     
which men sail4  ,seas move like clouds 
and  fishes float like birds above the  
level of the sunken land4  ,and it is   
here that tradition has laid the tragedy
 of the mighty  perversion of the       
imagination of man2 the monstrous birth 
and death  of abominable things4  ,i say
 such things in no mood of spiritual    
pride2  such things are hideous not     
because they are distant but because    
they are near to us2 in all our brains1 
certainly in mine1  were buried things  
as bad as any buried under that bitter  
sea1  and if ,he did not come to do     
battle with them1 even in the darkness  
of the brain of man1 ,i know not why ,he
 came4  ,certainly it  was not only to  
talk about flowers or to talk about     
,socialism4  ,the more truly we can see 
life as a fairy-tale1 the more clearly  
the tale  resolves itself into war with 

the ,dragon who is wasting fairyland4   
,i will not enter on the theology behind
 the symbol2 but ,i  am sure it was of  
this that all the symbols were symbolic4
  ,i remember distinguished men among   
the liberal theologians1  who found it  
more difficult to believe in one devil  
than in many4  ,they admitted in the    
,new ,testament an attestation to evil  
spirits1  but not to a general enemy of 
mankind4  ,as some are said  to want the
 drama of ,hamlet without the ,prince of
 ,denmark1  they would have the drama of
 ,hell without the ,prince of ,darkness4
  ,i say nothing of these things1 save  
that the language of the  ,gospel seems 
to me to go much more singly to a single
 issue4  ,the voice that is heard there 
has such authority as speaks to an army2
  and the highest note of it is victory 
rather than peace4  ,when the apostles  
were first sent forth with their faces  
to the four  corners of the earth1 and  
turned again to acclaim their master1   
he did not say in that hour of triumph1 

,all are aspects of one  harmonious     
whole or ,the universe evolves through  
progress  to perfection or ,all things  
find their end in ,nirvana  or ,the     
dewdrop slips into the shining sea4  ,he
 looked up and said1  ,i saw ,satan fall
 like lightning from heaven4    ,then ,i
 looked up and saw in the long jagged   
lines of road and rock  and cleft       
something of the swiftness of such a    
thunderbolt4  ,what ,i saw seemed not so
 much a scene as an act2 as when        
abruptly ,michael barred the passage of 
the ,lord of ,pride4  ,below me all the 
empire of evil was splashed and         
scattered  upon the plain1 like a       
wine-cup shattered into a star4  ,sodom 
lay like ,satan1 flat upon the floor of 
the world4  ,and far away  and aloft1   
faint with height and distance1 small   
but still visible1  stood up the spire  
of the ,ascension like the sword of the 
,archangel1  lifted in salute after a   
stroke4        ,,chapter ,x    ,,the    
,,endless ,,empire    ,one of the       

adventures of travel consists1 not so   
much in finding  that popular sayings   
are false1 as that they mean more than  
they say4  ,we cannot appreciate the    
full force of the phrase until we have  
seen the fact4  ,we make a picture of   
the things we do not know  out of the   
things we know2 and suppose the         
traveller's tale  to mean no more abroad
 than it would at home4  ,if a man      
acquainted  only with ,english churches 
is told about certain ,french churches  
that they are much frequented1 he makes 
an ,english picture4  ,he imagines a    
definite dense crowd of people in their 
best  clothes going all together at     
eleven o'clock1 and all coming back     
together to lunch4  ,he does not picture
 the peculiar impression  he would gain 
on the spot2 of chance people going in  
and out of  the church all day1         
sometimes for quite short periods1 as if
 it  were a sort of sacred inn4  ,or    
suppose a man knowing only ,english     
beer-shops hears for the first time of a

 ,german beer-garden1  he probably does 
not imagine the slow ritual of the      
place4  ,he does not know that unless   
the drinker positively slams down the   
top  of his beer-mug with a resounding  
noise and a decisive gesture1  beer will
 go on flowing into it as from a natural
 fountain2  the drinking of beer being  
regarded as the normal state of man1    
and the cessation of it a decisive and  
even dramatic departure4  ,i do not give
 this example in contempt2 heaven       
forbid4  ,i have had so much to say of  
the inhuman side of ,prussianised       
,germany  that ,i am glad to be able to 
pay a passing tribute to those more     
generous ,german traditions which we    
hope may revive and make ,germany  once 
more a part of ,christendom4  ,i merely 
give it as an instance  of the way in   
which things we have all heard of1 like 
church-going  or beer-drinking1 in      
foreign lands1 mean much more1 and      
something  much more special1 than we   
should infer from our own land4  ,now   

this is true of a phrase we have all    
heard of deserted cities  or temples in 
the ,near ,east3  ,the ,bedouins camp in
 the ruins4  ,when ,i have read a       
hundred times that ,arabs camp in some  
deserted town  or temple near the ,nile 
or the ,euphrates1 ,i always thought of 
gipsies  near some place like           
,stonehenge4  ,they would make their own
 rude shelter  near the stones1 perhaps 
sheltering behind them to light a fire2 
and for the rest1 generations of gipsies
 might camp there without  making much  
difference4  ,the thing ,i saw more than
 once in ,egypt  and ,palestine was much
 more curious4  ,it was as if the       
gipsies set  to work to refurnish       
,stonehenge and make it a commodious    
residence4  ,it was as if they spread a 
sort of giant umbrella over the circle  
of stones1 and elaborately hung curtains
 between them1 so as to  turn the old   
,druid temple into a sort of patchwork  
pavilion4  ,in one sense there is much  
more vandalism1 and in another sense    

much more practicality2 but it is a     
practicality that always stops  short of
 the true creative independence of going
 off and building  a house of their own4
  ,that is the attitude of the ,arab2   
and it runs  through all his history4   
,noble as is his masterpiece of the     
,mosque  of ,omar1 there is something   
about it of that patchwork pavilion4    
,it was based on ,christian work1 it was
 built with fragments1  it was content  
with things that fastidious architects  
call fictions  or even shams4    ,i     
frequently saw old ruined houses of     
which there only remained two walls  of 
stone1 to which the nomads had added two
 walls of canvas making  an exact cube  
in form with the most startling         
incongruity in colour4  ,he needs the   
form and he does not mind the           
incongruity1 nor does  he mind the fact 
that somebody else has done the solid   
part and  he has only done the          
ramshackle part4  ,you can say that he  
is nobly  superior to jealousy1 or that 

he is without artistic ambition1  or    
that he is too much of a nomad to mind  
living half in somebody  else's house   
and half in his own4  ,the real quality 
is probably too  subtle for any simple  
praise or blame2 we can only say that   
there  is in the wandering ,moslem a    
curious kind of limited common sense2   
which might even be called a            
short-sighted common sense4  ,but       
however we define it1 that is what can  
really be traced through ,arab          
conquests and ,arab culture in all its  
ingenuity and insufficiency4  ,that is  
the note of these nomads in all the     
things in which they  have succeeded and
 failed4  ,in that sense they are       
constructive  and in that sense         
unconstructive2 in that sense artistic  
and in that  sense inartistic2 in that  
sense practical and in that sense       
unpractical2  in that sense cunning and 
in that sense innocent4  ,the curtains  
they  would hang round ,stonehenge might
 be of beautifully selected colours4    

,the banners they waved from ,stonehenge
 might be defended with glorious        
courage and enthusiasm4  ,the prayers   
they recited in ,stonehenge  might be   
essentially worthy of human dignity1 and
 certainly a great  improvement on its  
older associations of human sacrifice4  
,all this  is true of ,islam and the    
idolatries and negations are often      
replaced4  ,but they would not have     
built ,stonehenge2 they would scarcely1 
so to speak1 have troubled to lift a    
stone of ,stonehenge4  ,they would not  
have built ,stonehenge2 how much less   
,salisbury  or ,glastonbury or ,lincoln4
    ,that is the element about the ,arab
 influence which makes it1  after its   
ages of supremacy and in a sense of     
success1 remain in a  subtle manner     
superficial4  ,when a man first sees the
 ,eastern deserts1  he sees this        
influence as ,i first described it1 very
 present  and powerful1 almost          
omnipresent and omnipotent4  ,but ,i    
fancy that to me  and to others it is   

partly striking only because it is      
strange4  ,islam is so different to     
,christendom that to see it at all is at
  first like entering a new world4      
,but1 in my own case at any rate1  as   
the strange colours became more         
customary1 and especially as ,i saw     
more of the established seats of        
history1 the cities and the framework   
of the different states1 ,i became      
conscious of something else4  ,it was   
something underneath1 undestroyed and   
even in a sense unaltered4  ,it was     
something neither ,moslem nor modern2   
not merely oriental and yet  very       
different from the new occidental       
nations from which ,i came4  ,for a long
 time ,i could not put a name to this   
historical atmosphere4  ,then one day1  
standing in one of the ,greek churches1 
one of those houses  of gold full of    
hard highly coloured pictures1 ,i       
fancied it came to me4  ,it was the     
,empire4  ,and certainly not the raid of
 ,asiatic bandits  we call the ,turkish 

,empire4  ,the thing which had caught my
 eye  in that coloured interior was the 
carving of a two-headed eagle  in such a
 position as to make it almost as       
symbolic as a cross4  ,every one has    
heard1 of course1 of the situation which
 this might well  suggest1 the          
suggestion that the ,russian ,church was
 far too much of an  ,established       
,church and the ,white ,czar encroached 
upon the ,white ,christ4  ,but as a fact
 the eagle ,i saw was not borrowed from 
the ,russian ,empire2  it would be truer
 to say that the ,empire was borrowed   
from the eagle4  ,the double eagle is   
the ancient emblem of the double empire 
of ,rome  and of ,byzantium2 the one    
head looking to the west and the other  
to  the east1 as if it spread its wings 
from the sunrise to the sunset4  ,unless
 ,i am mistaken1 it was only associated 
with ,russia as late  as ,peter the     
,great1 though it had been the badge of 
,austria  as the representative of the  
,holy ,roman ,empire4  ,and what ,i     

felt brooding over that shrine and that 
landscape was something  older not only 
than ,turkey or ,russia but than        
,austria itself4  ,i began to understand
 a sort of evening light that lies over 
,palestine and ,syria2 a sense of smooth
 ruts of custom such  as are said to    
give a dignity to the civilisation of   
,china4  ,i even understood a sort of   
sleepiness about the splendid and       
handsome ,orthodox priests moving fully 
robed about the streets4  ,they were not
 aristocrats but officials2 still moving
 with the mighty  routine of some       
far-off official system4  ,in so far as 
the eagle was  an emblem not of such    
imperial peace but of distant imperial  
wars1  it was of wars that we in the    
,west have hardly heard of2  it was the 
emblem of official ovations4    ,when   
,heracleius rode homewards from the rout
 of ,ispahan ,with  the captives dragged
 behind him and the eagles in the van4  
,that is the rigid reality that still   
underlay the light mastery  of the ,arab

 rider2 that is what a man sees1 in the 
patchwork pavilion1  when he grows used 
to the coloured canvas and looks at the 
walls  of stone4  ,this also was far too
 great a thing for facile praise  or    
blame1 a vast bureaucracy busy and yet  
intensely dignified1  the most civilised
 thing ruling many other civilisations4 
,it was an endless end of the world2 for
 ever repeating its rich finality4  ,and
 ,i myself was still walking in that    
long evening of the earth2  and ,caesar 
my lord was at ,byzantium4    ,but it is
 necessary to remember next that this   
empire was not  always at its evening4  
,byzantium was not always ,byzantine4   
,nor was the seat of that power always  
in the city of ,constantine1  which was 
primarily a mere outpost of the city of 
,caesar4  ,we must remember ,rome as    
well as ,byzantium2 as indeed  nobody   
would remember ,byzantium if it were not
 for ,rome4  ,the more ,i saw of a      
hundred little things the more my mind  
revolved  round that original idea which

 may be called the ,mediterranean2  and 
the fact that it became two empires1 but
 remained one civilisation1  just as it 
has become two churches1 but remained   
one religion4    ,in this little world  
there is a story attached to every word2
  and never more than when it is the    
wrong word4  ,for instance1  we may say 
that in certain cases the word ,roman   
actually means ,greek4  ,the ,greek     
,patriarch is sometimes called the      
,roman ,patriarch2  while the real      
,roman ,patriarch1 who actually comes   
from ,rome1 is only  called the ,latin  
,patriarch1 as if he came from any      
little town in ,latium4  ,the truth     
behind this confusion is the truth about
 five hundred  very vital years1 which  
are concealed even from cultivated      
,englishmen  by two vague falsehoods2   
the notion that the ,roman ,empire was  
merely  decadent and the notion that the
 ,middle ,ages were merely dark4  ,as a 
fact1 even the ,dark ,ages were not     
merely dark4  ,and even the ,byzantine  

,empire was not merely ,byzantine4  ,it 
seems a little unfair that we should    
take the very title  of decay from that 
,christian city1 for surely it was yet  
more stiff and sterile when it had      
become a ,moslem city4  ,i am not so    
exacting as to ask any one to popularise
 such a word  as ,constantinopolitan4   
,but it would surely be a better word   
for  stiffness and sterility to call it 
,stamboulish4  ,but for the ,moslems    
and other men of the ,near ,east what   
counted about ,byzantium was  that it   
still inherited the huge weight of the  
name of ,rome4  ,rome had come east and 
reared against them this ,roman city1   
and though and priest or soldier who    
came out of it might be  speaking as a  
,greek1 he was ruling as a ,roman4  ,its
 critics in  these days of criticism may
 regard it as a corrupt civilisation4   
,but its enemies in the day of battle   
only regarded it as civilisation4       
,saladin1 the greatest of the ,saracens1
 did not call ,greek bishops  degenerate

 dreamers or dingy outcasts1 he called  
them1 with a  sounder historical        
instinct1 ,the monks of the imperial    
race4  ,the survival of the word merely 
means that even when the imperial  city 
fell behind them1 they did not surrender
 their claim  to defy all ,asia in the  
name of the ,christian ,emperor4  ,that 
is but one example out of twenty1 but   
that is why in this  distant place to   
this day the ,greeks who are separated  
from the see  of ,rome sometimes bear   
the strange name of ,the ,romans4       
,now that civilisation is our           
civilisation1 and we never had any      
other4  ,we have not inherited a        
,teutonic culture any more than a ,druid
 culture2  not half so much4  ,the      
people who say that parliaments or      
pictures  or gardens or roads or        
universities were made by the ,teutonic 
race from the north can be disposed of  
by the simple question3  why did not the
 ,teutonic race make them in the north8 
,why was not the ,parthenon originally  

built in the neighbourhood  of ,potsdam1
 or did ten ,hansa towns compete to be  
the birthplace  of ,homer8  ,perhaps    
they do by this time2 but their local   
illusion  is no longer largely shared4  
,anyhow it seems strange that the roads 
of the ,romans should be due to the     
inspiration of the ,teutons2  and that  
parliaments should begin in ,spain      
because they came  from ,germany4  ,if  
,i looked about in these parts for a    
local emblem  like that of the eagle1 ,i
 might very well find it in the lion4   
,the lion is common enough1 of course1  
in ,christian art both  hagiological and
 heraldic4  ,besides the cavern of      
,bethlehem of which ,i  shall speak     
presently1 is the cavern of ,st4        
,jerome1 where he lived  with that real 
or legendary lion who was drawn by the  
delicate  humour of ,carpaccio and a    
hundred other religious painters4  ,that
 it should appear in ,christian art is  
natural2 that it should  appear in      
,moslem art is much more singular1      

seeing that ,moslems  are in theory     
forbidden so to carve images of living  
things4  ,some say the ,persian ,moslems
 are less particular2 but whatever  the 
explanation1 two lions of highly        
heraldic appearance are carved  over    
that ,saracen gate which ,christians    
call the gate of ,st4 ,stephen2  and the
 best judges seem to agree that1 like so
 much of the ,saracenic  shell of ,zion1
 they were partly at least copied from  
the shields  and crests of the          
,crusaders4    ,and the lions graven    
over the gate of ,st4 ,stephen might    
well be  the text for a whole book on   
the subject4  ,for if they indicate1    
however indirectly1 the presence of the 
,latins of the twelfth century1  they   
also indicate the earlier sources from  
which the ,latin life had  itself been  
drawn4  ,the two lions are pacing1      
passant as the heralds  would say1 in   
two opposite directions almost as if    
prowling to and fro4  ,and this also    
might well be symbolic as well as       

heraldic4  ,for if the ,crusaders       
brought the lion southward in spite of  
the conventional fancy of ,moslem       
decoration1 it was only because  the    
,romans had previously brought the lion 
northward to the cold  seas and the     
savage forests4  ,the image of the lion 
came from north  to south1 only because 
the idea of the lion had long ago come  
from south to north4  ,the ,christian   
had a symbolic lion he had  never seen1 
and the ,moslem had a real lion that he 
refused to draw4  ,for we could deduce  
from the case of this single creature   
the fact that all our civilisation came 
from the ,mediterranean1  and the folly 
of pretending that it came from the     
,north ,sea4  ,those two heraldic shapes
 over the gate may be borrowed from the 
,norman  or ,angevin shield now         
quartered in the ,royal ,arms of        
,england4  ,they may  have been copied1 
directly or indirectly1 from that great 
,angevin ,king  of ,england whose title 
credited him with the heart of a lion4  

,they may have in some far-off fashion  
the same ancestry as the boast  or jest 
of our own comic papers when they talk  
about the ,british ,lion4  ,but why are 
there lions1 though of ,french or feudal
 origin1  on the flag of ,england8      
,there might as well be camels or       
crocodiles1  for all the apparent       
connection with ,england or with        
,france4  ,why was an ,english king     
described as having the heart of a lion1
 any more  than of a tiger8  ,why do    
your patriotic cartoons threaten the    
world  with the wrath of the ,british   
,lion2 it is really as strange as if    
they  warned it against stimulating the 
rage of the ,british rhinoceros4  ,why  
did not the ,french and ,english princes
 find in the wild boars1  that were the 
objects of their hunting1 the subjects  
of their heraldry8  ,if the ,normans    
were really the ,northmen1 the          
sea-wolves of ,scandinavian  piracy1 why
 did they not display three wolves on   
their shields8  ,why has not ,john ,bull

 been content with the ,english bull1   
or the ,english bull-dog8    ,the answer
 might be put somewhat defiantly by     
saying that the very name  of ,john     
,bull is foreign4  ,the surname comes   
through ,france from ,rome2  and the    
,christian name comes through ,rome from
 ,palestine4  ,if there  had really been
 any justification for the ,teutonic    
generalisation1  we should expect the   
surname to be ox and not bull2 and we   
should  expect the hero standing as     
godfather to be ,odin or ,siegfried1 and
 not  the prophet who lived on locusts  
in the wilderness of ,palestine or the  
mystic who mused with his burning eyes  
on the blue seas around ,patmos4  ,if   
our national hero is ,john ,bull and not
 ,olaf the ,ox1 it is ultimately        
because that blue sea has run like a    
blue thread through all the  tapestries 
of our traditions2 or in other words    
because our culture1  like that of      
,france or ,flanders1 came originally   
from the ,mediterranean4  ,and if this  

is true of our use of the word bull1 it 
is obviously  even truer of our use of  
the word lion4 ,the later emblem is     
enough  to show that the culture came1  
not only from the ,mediterranean1  but  
from the southern as well as the        
northern side of the ,mediterranean4    
,in other words1 the ,roman ,empire ran 
all round the great inland sea2  the    
very name of which meant1 not merely the
 sea in the middle of  the land1 but    
more especially the sea in the middle of
 all the lands  that mattered most to   
civilisation4  ,one of these1 and the   
one  that in the long run has mattered  
most of all1 was ,palestine4    ,in this
 lies the deepest difference between a  
man like ,richard  the ,lion ,heart and 
any of the countless modern ,english    
soldiers  in ,palestine who have been   
quite as lion-hearted as he4  ,his      
superiority was not moral but           
intellectual2 it consisted in  knowing  
where he was and why he was there4  ,it 
arose from the fact  that in his time   

there remained a sort of memory of the  
,roman ,empire1  which some would have  
re-established as a ,holy ,roman        
,empire4  ,christendom was still almost 
one commonwealth2 and it seemed to      
,richard  quite natural to go from one  
edge of it that happened to be called   
,england to the opposite edge of it that
 happened to be called ,palestine4  ,we 
may think him right or wrong in the     
particular quarrel1  we may think him   
innocent or unscrupulous in his         
incidental methods2  but there is next  
to no doubt whatever that he did regard 
himself not merely as conquering but as 
re-conquering a realm4  ,he was not like
 a man attacking total strangers on a   
hitherto  undiscovered island4  ,he was 
not opening up a new country1  or giving
 his name to a new continent1 and he    
could boast none  of those ideals of    
imperial innovation which inspire the   
more  enlightened pioneers1 who         
exterminate tribes or extinguish        
republics for the sake of a gold-mine or

 an oil-field4 ,some day1  if our modern
 educational system is further expanded 
and enforced1  the whole of the past of 
,palestine may be entirely forgotten2   
and a traveller in happier days may have
 all the fresher sentiments  of one     
stepping on a new and nameless soil4    
,disregarding any dim  and lingering    
legends among the natives1 he may then  
have the honour  of calling ,sinai by   
the name of ,mount ,higgins1 or marking 
on  a new map the site of ,bethlehem    
with the name of ,brownsville4  ,but    
,king ,richard1 adventurous as he was1  
could not experience the full  freshness
 of this sort of adventure4  ,he was not
 riding into ,asia thus  romantically   
and at random2 indeed he was not riding 
into ,asia at all4  ,he was riding into 
,europa ,irredenta4    ,but that is to  
anticipate what happened later and must 
be  considered later4  ,i am primarily  
speaking of the ,empire as a pagan  and 
political matter2 and it is easy to see 
what was the meaning of  the ,crusade on

 the merely pagan and political side4   
,in one sentence1  it meant that ,rome  
had to recover what ,byzantium could not
 keep4  ,but something further had      
happened as affecting ,rome than        
anything  that could be understood by a 
man standing as ,i have imagined  myself
 standing1 in the official area of      
,byzantium4  ,when ,i have  said that   
the ,byzantian civilisation seemed still
 to be reigning1  ,i meant a curious    
impression that1 in these ,eastern      
provinces1  though the ,empire had been 
more defeated it has been less          
disturbed4  ,there is a greater clarity 
in that ancient air2 and fewer clouds of
 real  revolution and novelty have come 
between them and their ancient sun4     
,this may seem an enigma and a paradox2 
seeing that here a foreign  religion has
 successfully fought and ruled4  ,but   
indeed the enigma  is also the          
explanation4  ,in the ,east the         
continuity of culture  has only been    
interrupted by negative things that     

,islam has done4  ,in the ,west it has  
been interrupted by positive things that
  ,christendom itself has done4  ,in the
 ,west the past of ,christendom  has its
 perspective blocked up by its own      
creations2 in the ,east  it is a true   
perspective of interminable corridors1  
with round  ,byzantine arches and proud 
,byzantine pillars4  ,that1 ,i incline  
to fancy1 is the real difference that a 
man come from the west  of ,europe feels
 in the east of ,europe1 it is a gap or 
a void4  ,it is the absence of the      
grotesque energy of ,gothic1 the absence
  of the experiments of parliament and  
popular representation1  the absence of 
medieval chivalry1 the absence of modern
 nationality4  ,in the ,east the        
civilisation lived on1 or if you will1  
lingered on2  in the ,west it died and  
was reborn4  ,but for a long time1 it   
should  be remembered1 it must have     
seemed to the ,east merely that it died4
  ,the realms of ,rome had disappeared  
in clouds of barbaric war1  while the   

realms of ,byzantium were still golden  
and gorgeous in the sun4  ,the men of   
the ,east did not realise that their    
splendour was stiffening  and growing   
sterile1 and even the early successes of
 ,islam may not  have revealed to them  
that their rule was not only stiff but  
brittle4  ,it was something else that   
was destined to reveal it4  ,the        
,crusades meant many things2 but in this
 matter they meant one thing1  which was
 like a word carried to them on the     
great west wind4  ,and the word was like
 that in an old ,irish song3  ,the west 
is awake4  ,they heard in the distance  
the cries of unknown crowds and felt    
the earth shaking with the march of     
mobs2 and behind them came  the         
trampling of horses and the noise of    
harness and of horns of war2  new kings 
calling out commands and hosts of young 
men full of hope  crying out in the old 
,roman tongue ,id ,deus vult1 ,rome was 
risen  from the dead4    ,almost any    
traveller could select out of the       

countless things  that he has looked at 
the few things that he has seen4  ,i    
mean the things that come to him with a 
curious clearness2  so that he actually 
sees them to be what he knows them to   
be4  ,i might almost say that he can    
believe in them although he has seen    
them4  ,there can be no rule about this 
realisation2 it seems to come in  the   
most random fashion2 and the man to whom
 it comes can only speak  for himself   
without any attempt at a critical       
comparison with others4  ,in this sense 
,i may say that the ,church of the      
,nativity at  ,bethlehem contains       
something impossible to describe1 yet   
driving  me beyond expression to a      
desperate attempt at description4  ,the 
church is entered through a door so     
small that it it might fairly  be called
 a hole1 in which many have seen1 and ,i
 think truly1  a symbol of some idea of 
humility4  ,it is also said that the    
wall  was pierced in this way to prevent
 the appearance of a camel  during      

divine service1 but even that           
explanation would only repeat  the same 
suggestion through the parable of the   
needle's eye4  ,personally ,i should    
guess that1 in so far as the purpose was
 practical1  it was meant to keep out   
much more dangerous animals than camels1
  as1 for instance1 ,turks4  ,for the   
whole church has clearly been  turned   
into a fortress1 windows are bricked up 
and walls thickened  in some or all of  
its thousand years of religious war4    
,in the blank  spaces above the little  
doorway hung in old times that strange  
mosaic of the ,magi which once saved the
 holy place from destruction1  in the   
strange interlude between the decline of
 ,rome and the rise  of ,mahomet4  ,for 
when the ,persians who had destroyed    
,jerusalem rode  out in triumph to the  
village of ,bethlehem1 they looked up   
and saw  above the door a picture in    
coloured stone1 a picture of themselves4
  ,they were following a strange star   
and worshipping an unknown child4  ,for 

a ,christian artist1 following some     
ancient ,eastern tradition  containing  
an eternal truth1 had drawn the three   
wise men with  the long robes and high  
head-dresses of ,persia4  ,the          
worshippers  of the sun had come        
westward for the worship of the star4   
,but whether that part of the church    
were bare and bald as it is  now or     
coloured with the gold and purple images
 of the ,persians1  the inside of the   
church would always be by comparison    
abruptly dark4  ,as familiarity turns   
the darkness to twilight1 and the       
twilight  to a grey daylight1 the first 
impression is that of two rows  of      
towering pillars4  ,they are of a dark  
red stone having much  of the appearance
 of a dark red marble2 and they are     
crowned  with the acanthus in the manner
 of the ,corinthian school4  ,they were 
carved and set up at the command of     
,constantine2  and beyond them1 at the  
other end of the church beside the      
attar1  is the dark stairway that       

descends under the canopies of rock  to 
the stable where ,christ was born4      
,of all the things ,i have seen the most
 convincing1 and as it  were crushing1  
were these red columns of ,constantine4 
,in explanation of the sentiment there  
are a thousand things that want  saying 
and cannot be said4  ,never have ,i felt
 so vividly the great  fact of our      
history2 that the ,christian religion is
 like a huge  bridge across a boundless 
sea1 which alone connects us with the   
men  who made the world1 and yet have   
utterly vanished from the world4  ,to   
put it curtly and very crudely on this  
point alone it was  possible to         
sympathise with a ,roman and not merely 
to admire him4  ,all his pagan remains  
are but sublime fossils2 for we can     
never know  the life that was in them4  
,we know that here and there was a      
temple  to ,venus or there an altar to  
,vesta2 but who knows or pretends to    
know  what he really felt about ,venus  
or ,vesta8  ,was a ,vestal ,virgin  like

 a ,christian ,virgin1 or something     
profoundly different8  ,was he quite    
serious about ,venus1 like a diabolist1 
or merely frivolous  about ,venus1 like 
a ,christian8  ,if the spirit was       
different from ours  we cannot hope to  
understand it1 and if the spirit was    
like ours1  the spirit was expressed in 
images that no longer express it4  ,but 
it is here that he and ,i meet2 and     
salute the same images  in the end4     
,in any case ,i can never recapture in  
words the waves of  sympathy with       
strange things that went through me in  
that  twilight of the tall pillars1 like
 giants robed in purple1  standing still
 and looking down into that dark hole in
 the ground4  ,here halted that imperial
 civilisation1 when it had marched in   
triumph  through the whole world2 here  
in the evening of its days it came      
trailing in all its panoply in the      
pathway of the three kings4  ,for it    
came following not only a falling but a 
fallen star and one  that dived before  

them into a birthplace darker than a    
grave4  ,and the lord of the laurels1   
clad in his sombre crimson1 looked down 
into that darkness1 and then looked up1 
and saw that all the stars  in his own  
sky were dead4  ,they were deities no   
longer but only  a brilliant dust1      
scattered down the vain void of         
,lucretius4  ,the stars were as stale as
 they were strong2 they would never die 
for they had never lived2 they were     
cursed with an incurable  immortality   
that was but the extension of mortality2
 they were  chained in the chains of    
causation and unchangeable as the dead4 
,there are not many men in the modern   
world who do not know that mood1  though
 it was not discovered by the moderns2  
it was the final and  seemingly fixed   
mood of nearly all the ancients4  ,only 
above the black  hole of ,bethlehem they
 had seen a star wandering like a lost  
spark2  and it had done what the eternal
 suns and planets could not do4  ,it had
 disappeared4    ,there are some who    

resent the presence of such purple      
beside  the plain stable of the         
,nativity4  ,but it seems strange that  
they  always rebuke it as if it were a  
blind vulgarity like the red  plush of a
 parvenu2 a mere insensibility to a mere
 incongruity4  ,for in fact the         
insensibility is in the critics and not 
the artists4  ,it is an insensibility   
not to an accidental incongruity but to 
an  artistic contrast4  ,indeed it is an
 insensibility of a somewhat  tiresome  
kind1 which can often be noticed in     
those sceptics who  make a science of   
folk-lore4 ,the mark of them is that    
they fail  to see the importance of     
finding the upshot or climax of a tale1 
even when it is a fairy-tale4 ,since the
 old devotional doctors  and designers  
were never tired of insisting on the    
sufferings of  the holy poor to the     
point of squalor1 and simultaneously    
insisting  on the sumptuousness of the  
subject kings to the point of swagger1  
it would really seem not entirely       

improbable that they may have been      
conscious of the contrast themselves4   
,i confess this is an insensibility1    
not to say stupidity1 in the sceptics   
and simplifiers1 which ,i  find very    
fatiguing4  ,i do not mind a man not    
believing a story1  but ,i confess ,i am
 bored stiff 7if ,i may be allowed the  
expression7  by a man who can tell a    
story without seeing the point of  the  
story1 considered as a story or even    
considered as a lie4  ,and a man who    
sees the rags and the royal purple as a 
clumsy  inconsistency is merely missing 
the meaning of a deliberate design4  ,he
 is like a man who should hear the story
 of ,king ,cophetua and the beggar  maid
 and say doubtfully that it was hard to 
recognise it as really a  mariage de    
convenance2 a phrase which 7,i may      
remark in parenthesis but  not without  
passion7 is not the ,french for a       
marriage of convenience1  any more than 
hors d'oeuvre is the ,french for out of 
work2  but may be more rightly rendered 

in ,english as a suitable match4  ,but  
nobody thought the match of the king and
 the beggar maid  conventionally a      
suitable match2 and nobody would ever   
have  thought the story worth telling if
 it had been4  ,it is like saying  that 
,diogenes1 remaining in his tub after   
the offer of ,alexander1  must have been
 unaware of the opportunities of ,greek 
architecture2  or like saying that      
,nebuchadnezzar eating grass is clearly 
inconsistent  with court etiquette1 or  
not to be found in any fashionable      
cookery book4  ,i do not mind the       
learned sceptic saying it is a legend or
 a lie2  but ,i weep for him when he    
cannot see the gist of it1 ,i might even
  say the joke of it4  ,i do not object 
to his rejecting the story  as a tall   
story2 but ,i find it deplorable when he
 cannot see  the point or end or upshot 
of the tall story1 the very pinnacle  or
 spire of that sublime tower4    ,this  
dull type of doubt clouds the           
consideration of many  sacred things as 

it does that of the shrine of           
,bethlehem4  ,it is applied to the      
divine reality of ,bethlehem itself1  as
 when sceptics still sneer at the       
littleness1 the localism1  the          
provincial particularity and obscurity  
of that divine origin2  as if           
,christians could be confounded and     
silenced by a contrast  which           
,christians in ten thousand hymns1 songs
 and sermons have  incessantly shouted  
and proclaimed4  ,in this capital case1 
of course1  the same principle holds4   
,a man may think the tale is incredible2
  but it would never have been told at  
all if it had not been incongruous4     
,but this particular case of the lesser 
contrast1 that between the imperial     
pomp and the rustic poverty of the      
carpenter and the shepherds1  is alone  
enough to illustrate the strange        
artistic fallacy involved4  ,if it be   
the point that an emperor came to       
worship a carpenter1  it is as          
artistically necessary to make the      

emperor imperial  as to make the        
carpenter humble2 if we wish to make    
plain to plain  people that before this 
shrine kings are no better than         
shepherds1  it is as necessary that the 
kings should have crowns as that  the   
shepherds should have crooks4  ,and if  
modern intellectuals  do not know it1 it
 is because nobody has really been mad  
enough  even to try to make modern      
intellectualism popular4  ,now this     
conception of pomp as a popular thing1  
this conception of a concession  to     
common human nature in colour and       
symbol1 has a considerable  bearing on  
many misunderstandings about the        
original enthusiasm  that spread from   
the cave of ,bethlehem over the whole   
,roman ,empire4  ,it is a curious fact  
that the moderns have mostly rebuked    
historic ,christianity1 not for being   
narrow1 but for being broad4  ,they have
 rebuked it because it did prove itself 
the desire of  all nations1 because it  
did satisfy the cravings of many creeds1

  because it did prove itself to        
idolaters as something as magic  as     
their idols1 or did prove itself to     
patriots something as lovable  as their 
native land4  ,in many other matters    
indeed1 besides this  popular art1 we   
may find examples of the same illogical 
prejudice4  ,nothing betrays more       
curiously the bias of historians against
  the ,christian faith than the fact    
that they blame in ,christians  the very
 human indulgences that they have       
praised in heathens4  ,the same arts and
 allegories1 the same phraseologies and 
philosophies1  which appear first as    
proofs of heathen health turn up later  
as proofs of ,christian corruption4  ,it
 was noble of pagans to  be pagan1 but  
it was unpardonable of ,christians to be
 paganised4  ,they never tire of telling
 us of the glory that was ,greece1  the 
grandeur that was ,rome1 but the ,church
 was infamous because it  satisfied the 
,greek intellect and wielded the ,roman 
power4    ,now on the first example of  

the attempt of theology to meet  the    
claims of philosophy ,i will not here   
dwell at length4  ,i will only remark in
 passing that it is an utter fallacy  to
 suggest1 as for instance ,mr4 ,wells   
suggests in his fascinating  ,outline of
 ,history1 that the subtleties of       
theology were  a mere falling away from 
the simplicities of religion4  ,religion
 may be better simple for those who find
 it simple2  but there are bound to be  
many who in any case find it subtle1    
among those who think about it and      
especially those who doubt about it4    
,to take an example1 there is no saying 
which the humanitarians  of a broad     
religion more commonly offer as a model 
of simplicity  than that most mystical  
affirmation ,god is ,love4  ,and there  
is  no theological quarrel of the       
,councils of the ,church which they1    
especially ,mr4 ,wells1 more commonly   
deride as bitter and barren than  that  
at the ,council of ,nicea about the     
,co-eternity of the ,divine ,son4  ,yet 

the subtle statement is simply a        
metaphysical explanation  of the simple 
statement2 and it would be quite        
possible even to  make it a popular     
explanation1 by saying that ,god could  
not love  when there was nothing to be  
loved4  ,now the ,church ,councils  were
 originally very popular1 not to say    
riotous assemblies4  ,so far from being 
undemocratic1 they were rather too      
democratic2  the real case against them 
was that they passed by uproarious      
votes1  and not without violence1 things
 that had ultimately to be considered   
more calmly by experts4  ,but it may    
reasonably be suggested1 ,i think1  that
 the concentration of the ,greek        
intellect on these things did  gradually
 pass from a popular to a more          
professional or official thing2  and    
that the traces of it have finally      
tended to fade from the  official       
religion of the ,east4  ,it was far     
otherwise with the more  poetical and   
therefore more practical religion of the

 ,west4  ,it was far otherwise with that
 direct appeal to pathos and affection  
in the highly coloured picture of the   
,shepherd and the ,king4  ,in the ,west 
the world not only prolonged its life   
but recovered  its youth4  ,that is the 
meaning of the movement ,i have         
described  as the awakening of the ,west
 and the resurrection of ,rome4  ,and   
the whole point of that movement1 as ,i 
propose to suggest1  was that it was a  
popular movement4  ,it had returned with
 exactly  that strange and simple energy
 that belongs to the story of           
,bethlehem4  ,not in vain had           
,constantine come clad in purple to look
 down into  that dark cave at his feet2 
nor did the star mislead him when it    
seemed  to end in the entrails of the   
earth4  ,the men who followed him passed
 on1  as it were1 through the low and   
vaulted tunnel of the ,dark ,ages2  but 
they had found the way1 and the only    
way1 out of that world  of death1 and   
their journey ended in the land of the  

living4  ,they came out into a world    
more wonderful than the eyes of men     
have looked on before or after2 they    
heard the hammers of hundreds  of happy 
craftsmen working for once according to 
their own will1  and saw ,st4 ,francis  
walking with his halo a cloud of birds4 
,,chapter ,,xi    ,,the ,,meaning ,,of  
,,the ,,crusade    ,there are three     
examples of ,western work on the great  
eastern slope  of the ,mount of ,olives2
 and they form a sort of triangle       
illustrating  the truth about the       
different influences of the ,west on the
 ,east4  ,at the foot of the hill is the
 garden kept by the ,franciscans  on the
 alleged site of ,gethsemane1 and       
containing the hoary olive  that is     
supposed to be the terrible tree of the 
agony of ,christ4  ,given the great age 
and slow growth of the olives1 the      
tradition  is not so unreasonable as    
some may suppose4  ,but whether or not  
it  is historically right1 it is not    
artistically wrong4  ,the instinct1  if 

it was only an instinct1 that made men  
fix upon this strange  growth of grey   
and twisted wood1 was a true imaginative
 instinct4  ,one of the strange         
qualities of this strange ,southern tree
 is  its almost startling hardness2     
accidentally to strike the branch  of an
 olive is like striking rock4  ,with its
 stony surface1  stunted stature1 and   
strange holes and hollows1 it is often  
more  like a grotto than a tree4  ,hence
 it does not seem so unnatural  that it 
should be treated as a holy grotto2 or  
that this strange  vegetation should    
claim to stand for ever like a          
sculptured monument4  ,even the         
shimmering or shivering silver foliage  
of the living  olive might well have a  
legend like that of the aspen2 as if it 
had grown grey with fear from the       
apocalyptic paradox of a divine  vision 
of death4  ,a child from one of the     
villages said to me1  in broken         
,english1 that it was the place where   
,god said his prayers4  ,i for one could

 not ask for a finer or more defiant    
statement  of all that separates the    
,christian from the ,moslem or the ,jew2
  credo quia impossibile4    ,around    
this terrible spot the ,franciscans have
 done something which will  strike many 
good and thoughtful people as quite     
fantastically inadequate2  and which    
strikes me as fantastically but         
precisely right4  ,they have laid out   
the garden simply as a garden1 in a way 
that is completely natural because it is
 completely artificial4  ,they have made
 flower-beds in the shape of stars and  
moons1  and coloured them with flowers  
like those in the backyard of a cottage4
  ,the combination of these bright      
patterns in the sunshine  with the awful
 shadow in the centre is certainly an   
incongruity  in the sense of a contrast4
  ,but it is a poetical contrast1  like 
that of birds building in a temple or   
flowers growing on a tomb4  ,the best   
way of suggesting what ,i for one feel  
about it would  be something like this2 

suppose we imagine a company of         
children1  such as those whom ,christ   
blessed in ,jerusalem1 afterwards put   
permanently in charge of a field full of
 his sorrow2 it is probable that1  if   
they could do anything with it1 they    
would do something like this4  ,they    
might cut it up into quaint shapes and  
dot it with red  daisies or yellow      
marigolds4  ,i really do not know that  
there  is anything better that grown up 
people could do1 since anything  that   
the greatest of them could do must be1  
must look quite as small4  ,shall ,i1   
the gnat that dances in ,thy ray1 dare  
to be reverent8  ,the ,franciscans have 
not dared to be reverent2 they have only
 dared  to be cheerful4  ,it may be too 
awful an adventure of the imagination   
to imagine ,christ in that garden4  ,but
 there is not the smallest  difficulty  
about imagining ,st4 ,francis there2 and
 that is something  to say of an        
institution which is eight hundred years
 old4    ,immediately above this little 

garden1 overshadowing and almost        
overhanging it1 is a gorgeous gilded    
building with golden domes  and minarets
 glittering in the sun1 and filling a   
splendid situation  with almost         
shameless splendour2 the ,russian church
 built over  the upper part of the      
garden1 belonging to the                
,orthodox-,greeks4  ,here again many    
,western travellers will be troubled2   
and will think  that golden building    
much too like a fairy palace in a       
pantomime4  ,but here again ,i shall    
differ from them1 though perhaps less   
strongly4  ,it may be that the pleasure 
is childish rather than childlike2  but 
,i can imagine a child clapping his     
hands at the mere sight  of those great 
domes like bubbles of gold against the  
blue sky4  ,it is a little like         
,aladdin's ,palace1 but it has a place  
in art  as ,aladdin has a place in      
literature2 especially since it is      
oriental literature4  ,those wise       
missionaries in ,china who were not     

afraid to depict the ,twelve ,apostles  
in the costume of ,chinamen  might have 
built such a church in a land of        
glittering mosques4  ,and as it is said 
that the ,russian has in him something  
of the child  and something of the      
oriental1 such a style may be quite     
sincere1  and have even a certain       
simplicity in its splendour4  ,it is    
genuine of its kind2 it was built for   
those who like it2  and those who do not
 like it can look at something else4    
,this sort  of thing may be called      
tawdry1 but it is not what ,i call      
meretricious4  ,what ,i call really     
meretricious can be found yet higher on 
the hill2  towering to the sky and      
dominating all the valleys4    ,the     
nature of the difference1 ,i think1 is  
worth noting4  ,the ,german ,hospice1   
which served as a sort of palace for the
  ,german ,emperor1 is a very big       
building with a very high tower1        
planned ,i believe with great           
efficiency1 solidity and comfort1  and  

fitted with a thousand things that mark 
its modernity  compared with the things 
around1 with the quaint garden  of the  
,franciscans or the fantastic temple of 
the ,russians4  ,it is what ,i can only 
describe as a handsome building2 rather 
as  the more vulgar of the ,victorian   
wits used to talk about a fine woman4   
,by calling it a handsome building ,i   
mean that from the top of its dizzy     
tower to the bottom of its deepest      
foundations there is not one line  or   
one tint of beauty4  ,this negative     
fact1 however1 would be nothing2  it    
might be honestly ugly and utilitarian  
like a factory or a prison2  but it is  
not4  ,it is as pretentious as the      
gilded dome below it2  and it is        
pretentious in a wicked way where the   
other is pretentious  in a good and     
innocent way4  ,what annoys me about it 
is that it  was not built by children1  
or even by savages1 but by professors2  
and the professors could profess the art
 and could not practise it4  ,the       

architects knew everything about a      
,romanesque building except  how to     
build it4  ,we feel that they           
accumulated on that spot  all the       
learning and organisation and           
information and wealth of  the world1 to
 do this one particular thing2 and then 
did it wrong4  ,they did it wrong1 not  
through superstition1 not through       
fanatical  exaggeration1 not through    
provincial ignorance1 but through pure1 
profound1 internal1 intellectual        
incompetence2 that intellectual         
incompetence which so often goes with   
intellectual pride4  ,i will mention    
only one matter out of a hundred4  ,all 
the columns  in the ,kaiser's ,chapel   
are in one way very suitable to their   
place2  every one of them has a swelled 
head4  ,the column itself is slender    
but the capital is not only big but     
bulging2 and it has the air  of bulging 
downwards1 as if pressing heavily on    
something too  slender to support it4   
,this is false1 not to any of the       

particular  schools of architecture     
about which professors can read in      
libraries1  but to the inmost           
instinctive idea of architecture itself4
  ,a ,norman capital can be heavy       
because the ,norman column is thick1    
and the whole thing expresses an        
elephantine massiveness and repose4     
,and a ,gothic column can be slender1   
because its strength is energy2  and is 
expressed in its line1 which shoots     
upwards like the life of  a tree1 like  
the jet of a fountain or even like the  
rush of a rocket4  ,but a slender thing 
beneath1 obviously oppressed by a       
bloated  thing above1 suggests weakness 
by one of those miraculous mistakes     
that are as precisely wrong as          
masterpieces are precisely right4  ,and 
to all this is added the intolerable    
intuition2 that the ,russians  and the  
,franciscans1 even if we credit them    
with fantastic ignorance1  are at least 
looking up at the sky2 and we know how  
the learned  ,germans would look down   

upon them1 from their monstrous tower   
upon the hill4    ,and this is as true  
of the moral as of the artistic elements
  in the modern ,jerusalem4  ,to show   
that ,i am not unjustly partisan1  ,i   
will say frankly that ,i see little to  
complain of in that common  subject of  
complaint2 the mosaic portrait of the   
,emperor on the ceiling  of the chapel4 
,it is but one among many figures2 and  
it is not an unknown  practice to       
include a figure of the founder in such 
church decorations4  ,the real example  
of that startling moral stupidity which 
marked  the barbaric imperialism can be 
found in another figure of which1       
curiously enough1 considerably less     
notice seems to have been taken4  ,it is
 the more remarkable because it is but  
an artistic shadow of  the actual fact2 
and merely records in outline and relief
 the temporary  masquerade in which the 
man walked about in broad daylight4  ,i 
mean the really astounding trick of     
dressing himself up as a ,crusader4     

,that was1 under the circumstances1 far 
more ludicrous and lunatic  a proceeding
 than if he had filled the whole ceiling
 with cherub  heads with his own        
features1 or festooned all the walls    
with one  ornamental pattern of his     
moustaches4    ,the ,german ,emperor    
came to ,jerusalem under the escort of  
the ,turks1  as the ally of the ,turks1 
and solely because of the victory  and  
supremacy of the ,turks4  ,in other     
words1 he came to  ,jerusalem solely    
because the ,crusaders had lost         
,jerusalem2  he came there solely       
because the ,crusaders had been routed1 
ruined1 butchered before and after the  
disaster of ,hattin3  because the ,cross
 had gone down in blood before the      
,crescent1  under which alone he could  
ride in with safety4  ,under those      
circumstances to dress up as a          
,crusader1 as if for a fancy dress ball1
  was a mixture of madness and vulgarity
 which literally stops the breath4      
,there is no need whatever to blame him 

for being in alliance with  the ,turks2 
hundreds of people have been in alliance
 with the ,turks2  the ,english         
especially have been far too much in    
alliance with them4  ,but if any one    
wants to appreciate the true difference1
 distinct from all  the cant of         
newspaper nationality1 between the      
,english and the ,germans  7who were    
classed together by the same newspapers 
a little time  before the war7 let him  
take this single incident as a test4    
,lord ,palmerston1 for instance1 was a  
firm friend of the ,turks4  ,imagine    
,lord ,palmerston appearing in chain    
mail and the shield  of a ,red ,cross   
,knight4    ,it is obvious enough that  
,palmerston would have said that he     
cared  no more for the ,crusade than for
 the ,siege of ,troy2 that his diplomacy
  was directed by practical patriotic   
considerations of the moment2  and that 
he regarded the religious wars of the   
twelfth century  as a rubbish heap of   
remote superstitions4  ,in this he would

 be  quite wrong1 but quite intelligible
 and quite sincere2 an ,english         
aristocrat of the nineteenth century    
inheriting from the ,english            
aristocrats of the eighteenth century2  
whose views were simply  those of       
,voltaire4  ,and these things are       
something of an allegory4  ,for the     
,voltairian version of the ,crusades is 
still by far  the most reasonable of all
 merely hostile views of the ,crusades4 
,if they were not a creative movement of
 religion1 then they were  simply a     
destructive movement of superstition2   
and whether we agree  with ,voltaire in 
calling it superstition or with         
,villehardouin in  calling it religion1 
at least both these very clear-headed   
,frenchmen  would agree that the motive 
did exist and did explain the facts4    
,but just as there is a clumsy ,german  
building with statues that at once      
patronise and parody the ,crusaders1 so 
there is a clumsy ,german theory  that  
at once patronises and minimises the    

,crusades4  ,according to this  theory  
the essential truth about a ,crusade was
 that it was not a ,crusade4  ,it was   
something that the professors1 in the   
old days before the war1  used to call a
 ,teutonic ,folk-,wandering4 ,godfrey   
and ,st4 ,louis  were not1 as           
,villehardouin would say1 fighting for  
the truth2  they were not even1 as      
,voltaire would say1 fighting for what  
they  thought was the truth2 this was   
only what they thought they thought1    
and they were really thinking of        
something entirely different4  ,they    
were not moved either by piety or       
priestcraft1 but by a new  and          
unexpected nomadism4  ,they were not    
inspired either by faith  or fanaticism1
 but by an unusually aimless taste for  
foreign travel4  ,this theory that the  
war of the two great religions could be 
explained by ,wanderlust was current    
about twenty years ago among  the       
historical professors of ,germany1 and  
with many of their other views1  was    

often accepted by the historical        
professors of ,england4  ,it was        
swallowed by an earthquake1 along with  
other rubbish1  in the year #aiad4      
,since then1 so far as ,i know1 the only
 person who has been  patient enough to 
dig it up again is ,mr4 ,ezra ,pound4   
,he is well known as an ,american poet2 
and he is1 ,i believe1  a man of great  
talent and information4  ,his attempt to
 recover  the old ,teutonic theory of   
the ,folk-,wandering of ,peter the      
,hermit  was expressed1 however1 in     
prose2 in an article in the ,new ,age4  
,i have no reason to doubt that he was  
to be counted among the most  loyal of  
our allies2 but he is evidently one of  
those who1  quite without being         
,pro-,german1 still manage to be        
,german4  ,the ,teutonic theory was very
 ,teutonic2 like the ,german ,hospice   
on the hill it was put together with    
great care and knowledge  and it is     
rotten from top to bottom4  ,i do not   
understand1  for that matter1 why that  

alliance which we enjoy with ,mr4 ,pound
  should not be treated in the same way 
as the other historical event2  or why  
the war should not be an example of the 
,wanderlust4  ,surely the ,american     
,army in ,france must have drifted      
eastward merely  through the same vague 
nomadic need as the ,christian ,army in 
,palestine4  ,surely ,pershing as well  
as ,peter the ,hermit was merely a      
rather restless  gentleman who found his
 health improved by frequent change of  
scene4  ,the ,americans said1 and       
perhaps thought1 that they were fighting
  for democracy2 and the ,crusaders     
said1 and perhaps thought1  that they   
were fighting for ,christianity4  ,but  
as we know what  the ,crusaders meant   
better than they did themselves1 ,i     
cannot  quite understand why we do not  
enjoy the same valuable omniscience     
about the ,americans4  ,indeed ,i do not
 see why we should not enjoy it  7for it
 would be very enjoyable7 about any     
individual ,american4  ,surely it was   

this vague vagabond spirit that moved   
,mr4 ,pound1  not only to come to       
,england1 but in a fashion to come to   
,fleet ,street4  ,a dim tribal tendency1
 vast and invisible as the wind1 carried
 him  and his article like an autumn    
leaf to alight on the ,new ,age         
doorstep4  ,or a blind aboriginal       
impulse1 wholly without rational motive1
  led him one day to put on his hat1 and
 go out with his article  in an envelope
 and put it in a pillar-box4 ,it is vain
 to correct  by cold logic the power of 
such primitive appetites2 nature herself
  was behind the seemingly random       
thoughtlessness of the deed4  ,and now  
that it is irrevocably done1 he can look
 back on it and trace  the large lines  
of an awful law of averages2 wherein it 
is ruled  by a ruthless necessity that a
 certain number of such ,americans      
should write a certain number of such   
articles1 as the leaves fall  or the    
flowers return4    ,in plain words1 this
 sort of theory is a blasphemy against  

the intellectual dignity of man4  ,it is
 a blunder as well as  a blasphemy2 for 
it goes miles out of its way to find a  
bestial  explanation when there is      
obviously a human explanation4  ,it is  
as if a man told me that a dim survival 
of the instincts of a  quadruped was the
 reason of my sitting on a chair with   
four legs4  ,i answer that ,i do it     
because ,i foresee that there may be    
grave  disadvantages in sitting on a    
chair with one leg4  ,or it is as if ,i 
were told that ,i liked to swim in the  
sea1 solely because some early  forms of
 amphibian life came out of the sea on  
to the shore4  ,i answer that ,i know   
why ,i swim in the sea2 and it is       
because  the divine gift of reason tells
 me that it would be unsatisfactory  to 
swim on the land4  ,in short this sort  
of vague evolutionary  theorising simply
 amounts to finding an unconvincing     
explanation  of something that needs no 
explanation4  ,and the case is really   
quite  as simple with great political   

and religious movements by which man    
has from time to time changed the world 
in this or that respect  in which he    
happened to think it would be the better
 for a change4  ,the ,crusade was a     
religious movement1 but it was also a   
perfectly  rational movement2 one might 
almost say a rationalist movement4  ,i  
could quite understand ,mr4 ,pound      
saying that such a campaign for  a creed
 was immoral2 and indeed it often has   
been1 and now perhaps  generally is1    
quite horribly immoral4  ,but when he   
implies that it  is irrational he has   
selected exactly the thing which it is  
not4    ,it is not enlightenment1 on the
 contrary it is ignorance and           
insularity1  which causes most of us to 
miss this fact4  ,but it certainly is   
the fact  that religious war is in      
itself much more rational than patriotic
 war4  ,i for one have often defended   
and even encouraged patriotic war1  and 
should always be ready to defend and    
encourage patriotic passion4  ,but it   

cannot be denied that there is more of  
mere passion1  of mere preference and   
prejudice1 in short of mere personal    
accident1  in fighting another nation   
than in fighting another faith4  ,the   
,crusader is in every sense more        
rational than the modern  conscript or  
professional soldier4  ,he is more      
rational in  his object1 which is the   
intelligent and intelligible object  of 
conversion2 where the modern militarist 
has an object much  more confused by    
momentary vanity and one-sided          
satisfaction4  ,the ,crusader wished to 
make ,jerusalem a ,christian town2  but 
the ,englishman does not wish to make   
,berlin an ,english town4  ,he has only 
a healthy hatred of it as a ,prussian   
town4  ,the ,moslem wished to make the  
,christian a ,moslem2 but even  the     
,prussian did not wish to make the      
,frenchman a ,prussian4  ,he only wished
 to make the ,frenchman admire a        
,prussian2  and not only were the means 
he adopted somewhat ill-considered for  

this purpose1 but the purpose itself is 
looser and more irrational4  ,the object
 of all war is peace2 but the object of 
religious  war is mental as well as     
material peace2 it is agreement4  ,in   
short religious war aims ultimately at  
equality1 where national  war aims      
relatively at superiority4  ,conversion 
is the one sort  of conquest in which   
the conquered must rejoice4    ,in that 
sense alone it is foolish for us in the 
,west to sneer  at those who kill men   
when a foot is set in a holy place1     
when we ourselves kill hundreds of      
thousands when a foot is put  across a  
frontier4  ,it is absurd for us to      
despise those who shed  blood for a     
relic when we have shed rivers of blood 
for a rag4  ,but above all the ,crusade1
 or1 for that matter1 the ,jehad1  is by
 far the most philosophical sort of     
fighting1 not only  in its conception of
 ending the difference1 but in its mere 
act  of recognising the difference1 as  
the deepest kind of difference4  ,it is 

to reverse all reason to suggest that a 
man's politics matter  and his religion 
does not matter4  ,it is to say he is   
affected  by the town he lives in1 but  
not by the world he lives in4  ,it is to
 say that he is altered when he is a    
fellow-citizen walking  under new       
lamp-posts1 but not altered when he is  
another creature walking  under strange 
stars4  ,it is exactly as if we were to 
say that two people  ought to live in   
the same house1 but it need not be in   
the same town4  ,it is exactly as if we 
said that so long as the address        
included  ,york it did not matter       
whether it was ,new ,york2 or that so   
long  as a man is in ,essex we do not   
care whether he is in ,england4         
,christendom would have been entirely   
justified in the abstract  in being     
alarmed or suspicious at the mere rise  
of a great power  that was not          
,christian4  ,nobody nowadays would     
think it odd  to express regret at the  
rise of a power because it was          

,militarist  or ,socialist or even      
,protectionist4  ,but it is far more    
natural  to be conscious of a           
difference1 not about the order of      
battle but  the battle of life2 not     
about our definable enjoyment of        
possessions1  but about our much more   
doubtful possession of enjoyment2  not  
about the fiscal divisions between us   
and foreigners  but about the spiritual 
divisions even between us and friends4  
,these are the things that differ       
profoundly with differing views  of the 
ultimate nature of the universe4  ,for  
the things of our country  are often    
distant2 but the things of our cosmos   
are always near2  we can shut our doors 
upon the wheeled traffic of our native  
town2  but in our own inmost chamber we 
hear the sound that never ceases2  that 
wheel which ,dante and a popular proverb
 have dared  to christen as the love    
that makes the world go round4  ,for    
this is the great paradox of life2 that 
there are not only  wheels within       

wheels1 but the larger wheels within the
 smaller4  ,when a whole community rests
 on one conception of life and death    
and the origin of things1 it is quite   
entitled to watch the rise  of another  
community founded on another conception 
as the rise  of something certain to be 
different and likely to be hostile4     
,indeed1 as ,i have pointed out touching
 certain political theories1  we already
 admit this truth in its small and      
questionable examples4  ,we only deny   
the large and obvious examples4         
,christendom might quite reasonably have
 been alarmed if it had not  been       
attacked4  ,but as a matter of history  
it had been attacked4  ,the ,crusader   
would have been quite justified in      
suspecting the ,moslem  even if the     
,moslem had merely been a new stranger2 
but as a matter  of history he was      
already an old enemy4  ,the critic of   
the ,crusade  talks as if it had sought 
out some inoffensive tribe or temple in 
the  interior of ,thibet1 which was     

never discovered until it was invaded4  
,they seem entirely to forget that long 
before the ,crusaders had dreamed  of   
riding to ,jerusalem1 the ,moslems had  
almost ridden into ,paris4  ,they seem  
to forget that if the ,crusaders nearly 
conquered ,palestine1  it was but a     
return upon the ,moslems who had nearly 
conquered ,europe4  ,there was no need  
for them to argue by an appeal to       
reason1 as ,i  have argued above1 that a
 religious division must make a         
difference2  it had already made a      
difference4  ,the difference stared them
  in the face in the startling          
transformation of ,roman ,barbary  and  
of ,roman ,spain4  ,in short it was     
something which must happen  in theory  
and which did happen in practice2 all   
expectation  suggested that it would be 
so and all experience said it was so4   
,having thought it out theoretically and
 experienced it practically1  they      
proceeded to deal with it equally       
practically4  ,the first division       

involved every principle of the science 
of thought2 and the last  developments  
followed out every principle of the     
science of war4  ,the ,crusade was the  
counter-attack4 ,it was the defensive   
army taking  the offensive in its turn1 
and driving back the enemy to his base4 
,and it is this process1 reasonable from
 its first axiom to its last act1  that 
,mr4 ,pound actually selects as a sort  
of automatic wandering  of an animal4   
,but a man so intelligent would not have
 made a mistake  so extraordinary but   
for another error which it is here very 
essential  to consider4  ,to suggest    
that men engaged1 rightly or wrongly1   
in so logical a military and political  
operation were only migrating  like     
birds or swarming like bees is as       
ridiculous as to say that  the          
,prohibition campaign in ,america was   
only an animal reversion  towards       
lapping as the dog lappeth1 or ,rowland 
,hill's introduction  of postage stamps 
an animal taste for licking as the cat  

licks4  ,why should we provide other    
people with a remote reason for their   
own actions1 when they themselves are   
ready to tell us the reason1  and it is 
a perfectly reasonable reason8    ,i    
have compared this pompous imposture of 
scientific history to  the pompous and  
clumsy building of the scientific       
,germans on the ,mount  of ,olives1     
because it substitutes in the same way a
 modern stupidity  for the medieval     
simplicity4  ,but just as the ,german   
,hospice after  all stands on a fine    
site1 and might have been a fine        
building1  so there is after all another
 truth1 somewhat analogous1  which the  
,german historians of the               
,folk-,wanderings might possibly  have  
meant1 as distinct from all that they   
have actually said4  ,there is indeed   
one respect in which the case of the    
,crusade does  differ very much from    
modern political cases like prohibition 
or the penny post4  ,i do not refer to  
such incidental peculiarities  as the   

fact that ,prohibition could only have  
succeeded through  the enormous power of
 modern plutocracy1 or that even the    
convenience  of the postage goes along  
with an extreme coercion by the police4 
,it is a somewhat deeper difference that
 ,i mean2 and it may possibly be  what  
these critics mean4  ,but the difference
 is not in the evolutionary1  but rather
 the revolutionary spirit4    ,the      
,first ,crusade was not a racial        
migration2 it was something much  more  
intellectual and dignified2 a riot4  ,in
 order to understand this  religious war
 we must class it1 not so much with the 
wars of history  as with the revolutions
 of history4  ,as ,i shall try to show  
briefly  on a later page1 it not only   
had all the peculiar good and the       
peculiar  evil of things like the       
,french ,revolution or the ,russian     
,revolution1  but it was a more purely  
popular revolution than either of them4 
,the truly modern mind will of course   
regard the contention that it  was      

popular as tantamount to a confession   
that it was animal4  ,in these days when
 papers and speeches are full of words  
like  democracy and self-determination1 
anything really resembling  the movement
 of a mass of angry men is regarded as  
no better than  a stampede of bulls or a
 scurry of rats4  ,the new sociologists 
call it the herd instinct1 just as the  
old reactionaries called it  the        
many-headed beast4  ,but both agree in  
implying that it is hardly  worth while 
to count how many head there are of such
 cattle4  ,in face of such fashionable  
comparisons it will seem comparatively  
mild to talk of migration as it occurs  
among birds or insects4  ,nevertheless  
we may venture to state with some       
confidence  that both the sociologists  
and the reactionaries are wrong4  ,it   
does not follow that human beings become
 less than human because their  ideas   
appeal to more and more of humanity4    
,nor can we deduce that men  are        
mindless solely from the fact that they 

are all of one mind4  ,in plain fact the
 virtues of a mob cannot be found in a  
herd  of bulls or a pack of wolves1 any 
more than the crimes of a mob  can be   
committed by a flock of sheep or a shoal
 of herrings4  ,birds have never been   
known to besiege and capture an empty   
cage  of an aviary1 on a point of       
principle1 merely because it had kept a 
few  other birds in captivity1 as the   
mob besieged and captured the almost    
empty ,bastille1 merely because it was  
the fortress of a historic tyranny4     
,and rats have never been known to die  
by thousands merely in order  to visit a
 particular trap in which a particular  
rat had perished1  as the poor peasants 
of the ,first ,crusade died in thousands
 for a  far-off sight of the ,sepulchre 
or a fragment of the true cross4  ,in   
this sense indeed the ,crusade was not  
rationalistic1 if the rat  is the only  
rationalist4  ,but it will seem more    
truly rational  to point out that the   
inspiration of such a crowd is not in   

such  instincts as we share with the    
animals1 but precisely in such ideas  as
 the animals never 7with all their      
virtues7 understand4    ,what is        
peculiar about the ,first ,crusade is   
that it was in quite  a new and abnormal
 sense a popular movement4  ,i might    
almost say  it was the only popular     
movement there ever was in the world4   
,for it was not a thing which the       
populace followed2 it was actually  a   
thing which the populace led4  ,it was  
not only essentially  a revolution1 but 
it was the only revolution ,i know of in
 which  the masses began by acting      
alone1 and practically without any      
support from any of the classes4  ,when 
they had acted1 the classes  came in2   
and it is perfectly true1 and indeed    
only natural1  that the masses alone    
failed where the two together succeeded4
  ,but it was the uneducated who        
educated the educated4  ,the case of the
 ,crusade is emphatically not a case in 
which certain  ideas were first         

suggested by a few philosophers1 and    
then preached  by demagogues to the     
democracy4  ,this was to a great extent 
true  of the ,french ,revolution2 it was
 probably yet more true of the  ,russian
 ,revolution2 and we need not here pause
 upon the fine shade  of difference that
 ,rousseau was right and ,karl ,marx was
 wrong4  ,in the ,first ,crusade it was 
the ordinary man who was right or wrong4
  ,he came out in a fury at the insult  
to his own little images or  private    
prayers1 as if he had come out to fight 
with his own domestic  poker or private 
carving-knife4 ,he was not armed with   
new weapons  of wit and logic served    
round from the arsenal of an academy4   
,there was any amount of wit and logic  
in the academies of the ,middle ,ages2  
but the typical leader of the ,crusade  
was not ,abelard or ,aquinas  but ,peter
 the ,hermit1 who can hardly be called  
even a popular leader1  but rather a    
popular flag4  ,and it was his army1 or 
rather  his enormous rabble1 that first 

marched across the world to die  for the
 deliverance of ,jerusalem4             
,historians say that in that huge host  
of thousands there were only  nine      
knights4  ,to any one who knows even a  
little of medieval  war the fact seems  
astounding4  ,it is indeed a long       
exploded  fallacy to regard medievalism 
as identical with feudalism4  ,there    
were countless democratic institutions1 
such as the guilds2  sometimes as many  
as twenty guilds in one small town4     
,but it is really true that the military
 organization of the ,middle ,ages  was 
almost entirely feudal2 indeed we might 
rather say that feudalism  was the name 
of their military organisation4  ,that  
so vast a military  mass should have    
attempted to move at all1 with only nine
 of the natural  military leaders1 seems
 to me a prodigy of popular initiative4 
,it is as if a parliament were elected  
at the next general election1  in which 
only two men could afford to read a     
daily newspaper4    ,this mob marched   

against the military discipline of the  
,moslems  and was massacred2 or1 might  
,i so mystically express it1 martyred4  
,many of the great kings and knights who
 followed in their tracks  did not so   
clearly deserve any haloes for the      
simplicity and purity  of their motives4
  ,the canonisation of such a crowd     
might be impossible1  and would         
certainly be resisted in modern opinion2
 chiefly because they  indulged their   
democratic violence on the way by       
killing various usurers2  a course which
 naturally fills modern society with an 
anger verging  on alarm4  ,a perversity 
leads me to weep rather more over the   
many  slaughtered peasants than over the
 few slaughtered usurers2  but in any   
case the peasants certainly were not    
slaughtered in vain4  ,the common       
conscience of all classes1 in a time    
when all had  a common creed1 was       
aroused1 and a new army followed of a   
very  different type of skill and       
training2 led by most of the ablest     

captains and by some of the most        
chivalrous gentlemen of the age4  ,for  
curiously enough1 the host contained    
more than one cultured  gentleman who   
was as simple a ,christian as any       
peasant1  and as recklessly ready to be 
butchered or tortured for the mere  name
 of ,christ4    ,it is a tag of the     
materialists that the truth about       
history  rubs away the romance of       
history4  ,it is dear to the modern mind
  because it is depressing2 but it does 
not happen to be true4  ,nothing emerges
 more clearly from a study that is truly
 realistic1  than the curious fact that 
romantic people were really romantic4   
,it is rather the historical novels that
 will lead a modern  man vaguely to     
expect to find the leader of the new    
knights1  ,godfrey de ,bouillon1 to have
 been merely a brutal baron4  ,the      
historical facts are all in favour of   
his having been much  more like a knight
 of the ,round ,table4  ,in fact he was 
a far  better man than most of the      

knights of the ,round ,table1 in whose  
characters the fabulist1 knowing that he
 was writing a fable1  was tactful      
enough to introduce a larger admixture  
of vice4  ,truth is  not only stranger  
than fiction1 but often saintlier than  
fiction4  ,for truth is real1 while     
fiction is bound to be realistic4       
,curiously enough ,godfrey seems to have
 been heroic even in those  admirable   
accidents which are generally and       
perhaps rightly regarded  as the        
trappings of fiction4  ,thus he was of  
heroic stature1  a handsome red-bearded 
man of great personal strength and      
daring2  and he was himself the first   
man over the wall of ,jerusalem1  like  
any boy hero in a boy's adventure story4
  ,but he was also1  the realist will be
 surprised to hear1 a perfectly honest  
man1  and a perfectly genuine practiser 
of the theoretical magnanimity  of      
knighthood4  ,everything about him      
suggests it2 from his first  conversion 
from the imperial to the papal 7and     

popular7 cause1 to his  great refusal of
 the kinghood of the city he had taken2 
,i will  not wear a crown of gold where 
my ,master wore a crown of thorns4  ,he 
was a just ruler1 and the laws he made  
were full of the plainest  public       
spirit4  ,but even if we dismiss all    
that was written  of him by ,christian  
chroniclers because they might be his   
friends  7which would be a pathetic and 
exaggerated compliment to the harmonious
  unity of ,crusaders and of            
,christians7 he would still remain      
sufficiently assoiled and crowned with  
the words of his enemies4  ,for a       
,saracen chronicler wrote of him1 with a
 fine simplicity1  that if all truth and
 honour had otherwise withered off the  
earth1  there would still remain enough 
of them so long as ,duke ,godfrey was   
alive4    ,allied with ,godfrey were    
,tancred the ,italian1 ,raymond of      
,toulouse  with the southern ,french and
 ,robert of ,normandy1 the adventurous  
son of the ,conqueror1 with the ,normans

 and the ,english4  ,but it would be an 
error1 ,i think1 and one tending to make
 the whole  subsequent story a thing not
 so much misunderstood as               
unintelligible1  to suppose that the    
whole crusading movement had been       
suddenly  and unnaturally stiffened with
 the highest chivalric discipline4      
,unless ,i am much mistaken1 a great    
mass of that army  was still very much  
of a mob4  ,it is probable a priori1    
since the great popular movement was    
still profoundly popular4  ,it is       
supported by a thousand things in the   
story of the campaign2  the             
extraordinary emotionalism that made    
throngs of men weep and  wail together1 
the importance of the demagogue1 ,peter 
the ,hermit1  in spite of his unmilitary
 character1 and the wide differences    
between  the designs of the leaders and 
the actions of the rank and file4  ,it  
was a crowd of rude and simple men that 
cast themselves  on the sacred dust at  
the first sight of the little mountain  

town which they had tramped for two     
thousand miles to see4  ,tancred saw it 
first from the slope by the village of  
,bethlehem1  which had opened its gates 
willingly to his hundred ,italian       
knights2  for ,bethlehem then as now was
 an island of ,christendom in the sea   
of ,islam4  ,meanwhile ,godfrey came up 
the road from ,jaffa1  and crossing the 
mountain ridge1 saw also with his living
 eyes  his vision of the world's desire4
  ,but the poorest men about him        
probably felt the same as he2 all ranks 
knelt together in the dust1  and the    
whole story is one wave of numberless   
and nameless men4  ,it was a mob that   
had risen like a man for the faith4  ,it
 was a mob that had truly been tortured 
like a man for the faith4  ,it was      
already transfigured by pain as well as 
passion4  ,those that know war in those 
deserts through the summer months1  even
 with modern supplies and appliances and
 modern maps and calculations1  know    
that it could only be described as a    

hell full of heroes4  ,what it must have
 been to those little local serfs and   
peasants from  the ,northern villages1  
who had never dreamed in nightmares of  
such  landscapes or such a sun1 who knew
 not how men lived at all in such  a    
furnace and could neither guess the     
alleviations nor get them1  is beyond   
the imagination of man4  ,they arrived  
dying with thirst1  dropping with       
weariness1 lamenting the loss of the    
dead that rotted  along their road2 they
 arrived shrivelled to rags or already  
raving  with fever and they did what    
they had come to do4    ,above all1 it  
is clear that they had the vices as well
 as the virtues  of a mob4  ,the        
shocking massacre in which they indulged
 in the sudden  relaxation of success is
 quite obviously a massacre by a mob4   
,it is all the more profoundly          
revolutionary because it must have  been
 for the most part a ,french mob4  ,it  
was of the same order  as the ,massacre 
of ,september1 and it is but a part of  

the same truth  that the ,first ,crusade
 was as revolutionary as the ,french    
,revolution4  ,it was of the same order 
as the ,massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew1  
which was also a piece of purely popular
 fanaticism1 directed  against what was 
also regarded as an anti-national       
aristocracy4  ,it is practically        
self-evident that the ,christian        
commanders were  opposed to it1 and     
tried to stop it4  ,tancred promised    
their lives  to the ,moslems in the     
mosque1 but the mob clearly disregarded 
him4  ,raymond of ,toulouse himself     
saved those in the ,tower of ,david1    
and managed to send them safely with    
their property to ,ascalon4  ,but       
revolution with all its evil as well as 
its good was loose  and raging in the   
streets of the ,holy ,city4  ,and in    
nothing do we  see that spirit of       
revolution more clearly than in the     
sight  of all those peasants and serfs  
and vassals1 in that one wild  moment in
 revolt1 not only against the conquered 

lords of ,islam1  but even against the  
conquering lords of ,christendom4       
,the whole strain of the siege indeed   
had been one of high and even  horrible 
excitement4  ,those who tell us to-day  
about the psychology  of the crowd will 
agree that men who have so suffered and 
so succeeded  are not normal2 that their
 brains are in a dreadful balance which 
may  turn either way4  ,they entered the
 city at last in a mood in which they   
might all have become monks2 and instead
 they all became murderers4  ,a         
brilliant general1 who played a decisive
 part in our own recent  ,palestinian   
campaign1 told me with a sort of grim   
humour that he hardly  wondered at the  
story2 for he himself had entered       
,jerusalem in a sort  of fury of        
disappointment2 ,we went through such a 
hell to get there1  and now it's spoilt 
for all of us4  ,such is the heavy irony
 that  hangs over our human nature1     
making it enter the ,holy ,city as if it
  were the ,heavenly ,city1 and more    

than any earthly city can be4  ,but the 
struggle which led to the scaling of    
,jerusalem in the  ,first ,crusade was  
something much wilder and more          
incalculable than  anything that can be 
conceived in modern war4  ,we can hardly
 wonder  that the crusading crowd saw   
the town in front of them as a sort  of 
tower full of demons1 and the hills     
around them as an enchanted  and        
accursed land4  ,for in one very real   
sense it really was so2  for all the    
elements and expedients were alike      
unknown qualities4  ,all their enemies' 
methods were secrets sprung upon them4  
,all their own methods were new things  
made out of nothing4  ,they wondered    
alike what would be done on the other   
side and what  could be done on their   
own side2 every movement against them   
was a stab out of the darkness and every
 movement they made  was a leap in the  
dark4  ,first1 on the one side1 we have 
,tancred  trying to take the whole      
fortified city by climbing up a single  

slender ladder1 as if a man tried to    
lasso the peak of a mountain4  ,then we 
have the flinging from the turrets of a 
strange  and frightful fiery rain1 as if
 water itself had caught fire4  ,it was 
afterwards known as the ,greek ,fire and
 was probably petroleum2  but to those  
who had never seen 7or felt7 it before  
it may well have  seemed the flaming oil
 of witchcraft4  ,then ,godfrey and the 
wiser  of the warriors set about to     
build wooden siege-towers and found     
they had next to no wood to build them4 
,there was scarcely anything  in that   
rocky waste but the dwarf trees of      
olive2 a poetic fantasy  woven about    
that war in after ages described them as
 hindered  even in their wood-cutting by
 the demons of that weird place4  ,and  
indeed the fancy had an essential truth1
 for the very nature  of the land fought
 against them2 and each of those dwarf  
trees1  hard and hollow and twisted1 may
 well have seemed like a grinning       
goblin4  ,it is said that they found    

timbers by accident in a cavern2  they  
tore down the beams from ruined houses2 
at last they got into touch  with some  
craftsmen from ,genoa who went to work  
more successfully2  skinning the cattle1
 who had died in heaps1 and covering the
 timbers4  ,they built three high towers
 on rollers1 and men and beasts dragged 
them heavily against the high towers of 
the city4  ,the catapults  of the city  
answered them1 the cataracts of         
devouring fire came down2  the wooden   
towers swayed and tottered1 and two of  
them suddenly stuck  motionless and     
useless4  ,and as the darkness fell a   
great flare  must have told them that   
the third and last was in flames4       
,all that night ,godfrey was toiling to 
retrieve the disaster4  ,he took down   
the whole tower from where it stood and 
raised  it again on the high ground to  
the north of the city which is  now     
marked by the pine tree that grows      
outside ,herod's gate4  ,and all the    
time he toiled1 it was said1 sinister   

sorcerers sat  upon the battlements1    
working unknown marvels for the undoing 
of the labour of man4  ,if the great    
knight had a touch of such  symbolism on
 his own side1 he might have seen in his
 own strife  with the solid timber      
something of the craft that had         
surrounded  the birth of his creed1 and 
the sacred trade of the carpenter4  ,and
 indeed the very pattern of all         
carpentry is cruciform1 and there  is   
something more than an accident in the  
allegory4  ,the transverse  position of 
the timber does indeed involve many of  
those mathematical  that are analogous  
to moral truths and almost every        
structural  shape has the shadow of the 
mystic rood1 as the three dimensions    
have a shadow of the ,trinity4  ,here is
 the true mystery of equality2  since   
the longer beam might lengthen itself to
 infinity1 and never  be nearer to the  
symbolic shape without the help of the  
shorter4  ,here is that war and wedding 
between two contrary forces1 resisting  

and  supporting each other2 the         
meeting-place of contraries which we1   
by a sort of pietistic pun1 still call  
the crux of the question4  ,here is our 
angular and defiant answer to the       
self-devouring circle  of ,asia4  ,it   
may be improbable1 though it is far from
 impossible  7for the age was           
philosophical enough7 that a man like   
,godfrey  thus extended the mystical to 
the metaphysical2 but the writer  of a  
real romance about him would be well    
within his rights in making  him see the
 symbolism of his own tower1 a tower    
rising above  him through the clouds of 
night as if taking hold on the heaven   
or showing its network of beams black   
against the daybreak2  scaling the skies
 and open to all the winds1 a ladder and
 a labyrinth1  repeating till it was    
lost in the twilight the pattern of the 
sign  of the cross4    ,when dawn was   
come all those starving peasants may    
well have stood  before the high        
impregnable walls in the broad daylight 

of despair4  ,even their nightmares     
during the night1 of unearthly          
necromancers  looking down at them from 
the battlements and with signs and      
spells  paralysing all their potential  
toils1 may well have been a sort  of    
pessimistic consolation1 anticipating   
and accounting for failure4  ,the ,holy 
,city had become for them a fortress    
full of fiends1 when ,godfrey  de       
,bouillon again set himself sword in    
hand upon the wooden tower and gave  the
 order once more to drag it tottering   
towards the towers on either  side of   
the postern gate4  ,so they crawled     
again across the fosse  full of the     
slain1 dragging their huge house of     
timber behind them1  and all the blast  
and din of war broke again about their  
heads4  ,a hail of bolts hammered such  
shields as covered them for a canopy1   
stones and rocks fell on them and       
crushed them like flies in  the mire1   
and from the engines of the ,greek ,fire
 all the torrents  of their torment came

 down on them like red rivers of hell4  
,for indeed the souls of those peasants 
must have been sickened  with something 
of the topsy-turvydom felt by too many  
peasants of our  own time under the     
frightful flying batteries of scientific
 war2  a blasphemy of inverted battle in
 which hell itself has occupied heaven4 
,something of the vapours vomited by    
such cruel chemistry may  have mingled  
with the dust of battle1 and darkened   
such light  as showed where shattering  
rocks were rending a roof of shields1   
to men bowed and blinded as they are by 
such labour of dragging  and such a     
hailstorm of death4  ,they may have     
heard through  all the racket of        
nameless noises the high minaret cries  
of ,moslem triumph rising shriller like 
a wind in shrill pipes1  and known      
little else of what was happening above 
or beyond them4  ,it was most likely    
that they laboured and strove in that   
lower darkness1  not knowing that high  
over their heads1 and up above the cloud

  of battle1 the tower of timber and the
 tower of stone had touched  and met in 
mid-heaven2 and great ,godfrey1 alone   
and alive1  had leapt upon the wall of  
,jerusalem4        ,,chapter ,,xii      
,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,chivalry    ,on the 
back of this book is the name of the    
,new ,jerusalem and on  the first page  
of it a phrase about the necessity of   
going back  to the old even to find the 
new1 as a man retraces his steps  to a  
sign-post4 ,the common sense of that    
process is indeed most  mysteriously    
misunderstood4  ,any suggestion that    
progress has at  any time taken the     
wrong turning is always answered by the 
argument  that men idealise the past1   
and make a myth of the ,age of ,gold4   
,if my progressive guide has led me into
 a morass or a man-trap  by turning to  
the left by the red pillar-box1 instead 
of to  the right by the blue palings of 
the inn called the ,rising ,sun1  my    
progressive guide always proceeds to    
soothe me by talking  about the myth of 

an ,age of ,gold4  ,he says ,i am       
idealising  the right turning4  ,he says
 the blue palings are not so blue  as   
they are painted4  ,he says they are    
only blue with distance4  ,he assures me
 there are spots on the sun1 even on the
 rising sun4  ,sometimes he tells me ,i 
am wrong in my fixed conviction that the
 blue  was of solid sapphires1 or the   
sun of solid gold4  ,in short he assures
  me ,i am wrong in supposing that the  
right turning was right in every        
possible respect2 as if ,i had ever     
supposed anything of the sort4  ,i want 
to go back to that particular place1 not
 because it was  all my fancy paints it1
 or because it was the best place my    
fancy  can paint2 but because it was a  
many thousand times better place  than  
the man-trap in which he and his like   
have landed me4  ,but above all ,i want 
to go back to it1 not because ,i know it
 was  the right place but because ,i    
think it was the right turning4  ,and   
the right turning might possibly have   

led me to the right place2  whereas the 
progressive guide has quite certainly   
led me to  the wrong one4    ,now it is 
quite true that there is less general   
human testimony  to the notion of a ,new
 ,jerusalem in the future than to the   
notion  of a ,golden ,age in the past4  
,but neither of those ideas1 whether or 
no they are illusions1 are any answer to
 the question of a plain  man in the    
plain position of this parable2 a man   
who has to find  some guidance in the   
past if he is to get any good in the    
future4  ,what he positively knows1 in  
any case1 is the complete collapse  of  
the present4  ,now that is the exact    
truth about the thing so often  rebuked 
as a romantic and unreal return of      
modern men to medieval things4  ,they   
suppose they have taken the wrong       
turning1 because they know  they are in 
the wrong place4  ,to know that1 it is  
necessary not to  idealise the medieval 
world1 but merely to realise the modern 
world4  ,it is not so much that they    

suppose the medieval world was above    
the average as that they feel sure the  
modern world is below the average4      
,they do not start either with the idea 
that man is meant to live  in a ,new    
,jerusalem of pearl and sapphire in the 
future1 or that a man  was meant to live
 in a picturesque and richly-painted    
tavern of the past2  but with a strong  
inward and personal persuasion that a   
man was  not meant to live in a         
man-trap4    ,for there is and will be  
more and more a turn of total change  in
 all our talk and writing about history4
  ,everything in the past  was praised  
if it had led up to the present1 and    
blamed if it  would have led up to      
anything else4  ,in short everybody has 
been  searching the past for the secret 
of our success4  ,very soon  everybody  
may be searching the past for the secret
 of our failure4  ,they may be talking  
in such terms as they use after a motor 
smash  or a bankruptcy2 where was the   
blunder8  ,they may be writing such     

books  as generals write after a        
military defeat2 whose was the fault8   
,the failure will be assumed even in    
being explained4    ,for industrialism  
is no longer a vulgar success4  ,on the 
contrary1 it is now too tragic even to  
be vulgar4  ,under the cloud of doom the
 modern city has taken on something  of 
the dignity of ,babel or ,babylon4      
,whether we call it the nemesis  of     
,capitalism or the nightmare of         
,bolshevism makes no difference2  the   
rich grumble as much as the poor2 every 
one is discontented1 and none  more than
 those who are chiefly discontented with
 the discontent4  ,about that discord we
 are in perfect harmony2 about that     
disease we  all think alike1 whatever we
 think of the diagnosis or the cure4    
,by whatever process in the past we     
might have come to the  right place1    
practical facts in the present and      
future will  prove more and more that we
 have come to the wrong place4  ,and for
 many a premonition will grow more and  

more of a probability2  that we may or  
may not await another century or another
 world  to see the ,new ,jerusalem      
rebuilt and shining on our fields2  but 
in the flesh we shall see ,babylon fall4
    ,but there is another way in which  
that metaphor of the forked road  will  
make the position plain4  ,medieval     
society was not the right place2  it was
 only the right turning4  ,it was only  
the right road2  or perhaps only the    
beginning of the right road4  ,the      
medieval age  was very far from being   
the age in which everything went right4 
,it would be nearer the truth ,i mean to
 call it the age in which  everything   
went wrong4  ,it was the moment when    
things might have  developed well1 and  
did develop badly4  ,or rather1 to be   
yet  more exact1 it was the moment when 
they were developing well1  and yet they
 were driven to develop badly4  ,this   
was the history  of all the medieval    
states and of none more than medieval   
,jerusalem2  indeed there were signs of 

some serious idea of making it the model
  medieval state4  ,of this notion of   
,jerusalem as the ,new ,jerusalem1  of  
the ,utopian aspect of the adventure of 
the ,latin ,kingdom1  something may be  
said in a moment4  ,but meanwhile there 
was a more  important part played by    
,jerusalem1 ,i think1 in all that great 
progress and reaction which has left us 
the problem of modern ,europe4  ,and the
 suggestion of it is bound up with the  
former suggestion1  about the difference
 between the goal and the right road    
that  might have led to it4  ,it is     
bound up with that quality of the       
civilisation in question1 that it was   
potential rather than perfect2  and     
there is no need to idealise it in order
 to regret it4  ,this peculiar part     
played by ,jerusalem ,i mention merely  
as a suggestion2  ,i might almost say a 
suspicion4  ,anyhow1 it is something of 
a guess2  but ,i for one have found it a
 guide4    ,medievalism died1 but it    
died young4  ,it was at once energetic  

and incomplete when it died1 or very    
shortly before it died4  ,this is not a 
matter of sympathy or antipathy1 but of 
appreciation  of an interesting historic
 comparison with other historic cases4  
,when the ,roman ,empire finally failed 
we cannot of course say  that it had    
done all it was meant to do1 for that is
 dogmatism4  ,we cannot even say it had 
done all that it might have done1  for  
that is guesswork4  ,but we can say that
 it had done  certain definite things   
and was conscious of having done them2  
that it had long and even literally     
rested on its laurels4  ,but suppose    
that ,rome had fallen when she had only 
half defeated ,carthage1  or when she   
had only half conquered ,gaul1 or even  
when the city was  ,christian but most  
of the provinces still heathen4  ,then  
we should  have said1 not merely that   
,rome had not done what she might have  
done1  but that she had not done what   
she was actually doing4  ,and that is   
very much the truth in the matter of the

 medieval civilisation4  ,it was not    
merely that the medievals left undone   
what they might  have done1 but they    
left undone what they were doing4  ,this
 potential  promise is proved not only  
in their successes but in their         
failures4  ,it is shown1 for instance1  
in the very defects of their art4  ,all 
the crafts of which ,gothic architecture
 formed the frame-work  were developed1 
not only less than they should have     
been1  but less than they would have    
been4  ,there is no sort of reason  why 
their sculpture should not have become  
as perfect as  their architecture2 there
 is no sort of reason why their sense   
of form should not have been as finished
 as their sense of colour4  ,a statue   
like the ,st4 ,george of ,donatello     
would have stood  more appropriately    
under a ,gothic than under a ,classic   
arch4  ,the niches were already made for
 the statues4  ,the same thing is true1 
of course1 not only about the state of  
the crafts but about the status  of the 

craftsman4  ,the best proof that the    
system of the guilds  had an undeveloped
 good in it is that the most advanced   
modern men  are now going back five     
hundred years to get the good out of it4
  ,the best proof that a rich house was 
brought to ruin is that our  very       
pioneers are now digging in the ruins to
 find the riches4  ,that the new        
guildsmen add a great deal that never   
belonged  to the old guildsmen is not   
only a truth1 but is part of  the truth 
,i maintain here4  ,the new guildsmen   
add what the old  guildsmen would have  
added if they had not died young4  ,when
 we renew a frustrated thing we do not  
renew the frustration4  ,but if there   
are some things in the new that were not
 in the old1  there were certainly some 
things in the old that are not yet      
visible in the new2 such as individual  
humour in the handiwork4  ,the point    
here1 however1 is not merely that the   
worker worked well  but that he was     
working better2 not merely that his mind

 was free  but that it was growing      
freer4  ,all this popular power and     
humour was  increasing everywhere1 when 
something touched it and it withered    
away4  ,the frost had struck it in the  
spring4    ,some people complain that   
the working man of our own day does  not
 show an individual interest in his     
work4  ,but it will be well  to realise 
that they would be much more annoyed    
with him if he did4  ,the medieval      
workman took so individual an interest  
in his work  that he would call up      
devils entirely on his own account1     
carving them in corners according to his
 own taste and fancy4  ,he would even   
reproduce the priests who were his      
patrons and make them  as ugly as       
devils2 carving anti-clerical           
caricatures on the very seats  and      
stalls of the clerics4  ,if a modern    
householder1 on entering his  own       
bathroom1 found that the plumber had    
twisted the taps into the images  of two
 horned and grinning fiends1 he would be

 faintly surprised4  ,if the            
householder1 on returning at evening to 
his house1  found the door-knocker      
distorted into a repulsive likeness  of 
himself1 his surprise might even be     
tinged with disapproval4  ,it may be    
just as well that builders and          
bricklayers do not  gratuitously attach 
gargoyles to our smaller residential    
villas4  ,but well or ill1 it is        
certainly true that this feature of a   
flexible popular fancy has never        
reappeared in any school of             
architecture or any state of society    
since the medieval decline4  ,the great 
classical buildings of the ,renascence  
were swept as bare  of it as any villa  
in ,balham4  ,but those who best        
appreciate this  loss to popular art    
will be the first to agree that at its  
best it  retained a touch of the        
barbaric as well as the popular4  ,while
 we can  admire these matters of the    
grotesque1 we can admit that their work 
was sometimes unintentionally as well as

 intentionally grotesque4  ,some of the 
carving did remain so rude that the     
angels were almost  as ugly as the      
devils4  ,but this is the very point    
upon which ,i  would here insist2 the   
mystery of why men who were so obviously
  only beginning should have so suddenly
 stopped4    ,men with medieval         
sympathies are sometimes accused1       
absurdly enough1  of trying to prove    
that the medieval period was perfect4   
,in truth the whole case for it is that 
it was imperfect4  ,it was imperfect as 
an unripe fruit or a growing child is   
imperfect4  ,indeed it was imperfect in 
that very particular fashion which most 
modern thinkers generally praise1 more  
than they ever praise maturity4  ,it was
 something now much more popular than an
 age of perfection2  it was an age of   
progress4  ,it was perhaps the one real 
age of progress  in all history4  ,men  
have seldom moved with such rapidity and
 such  unity from barbarism to          
civilisation as they did from the end of

  the ,dark ,ages to the times of the   
universities and the parliaments1  the  
cathedrals and the guilds4  ,up to a    
certain point we may say  that          
everything1 at whatever stage of        
improvement1 was full  of the promise of
 improvement4  ,then something began to 
go wrong1  almost equally rapidly1 and  
the glory of this great culture  is not 
so much in what it did as in what it    
might have done4  ,it recalls one of    
these typical medieval speculations1    
full of  the very fantasy of free will1 
in which the schoolmen tried to fancy   
the fate of every herb or animal if     
,adam had not eaten the apple4  ,it     
remains1 in a cant historical phrase1   
one of the great  might-have-beens of   
history4    ,i have said that it died   
young2 but perhaps it would be truer to 
say that  it suddenly grew old4  ,like  
,godfrey and many of its great champions
 in  ,jerusalem1 it was overtaken in the
 prime of life by a mysterious malady4  
,the more a man reads of history the    

less easy he will find it to explain    
that secret and rapid decay of medieval 
civilisation from within4  ,only a few  
generations separated the world that    
worshipped ,st4 ,francis  from the world
 that burned ,joan of ,arc4  ,one would 
think there  might be no more than a    
date and a number between the white     
mystery  of ,louis the ,ninth and the   
black mystery of ,louis the ,eleventh4  
,this is the very real historical       
mystery2 the more realistic is our study
  of medieval things1 the more puzzled  
we shall be about the peculiar  creeping
 paralysis which affected things so     
virile and so full of hope4  ,there was 
a growth of moral morbidity as well as  
social inefficiency1  especially in the 
governing classes2 for even to the end  
the guildsmen  and the peasants remained
 much more vigorous4  ,how it ended we  
all know2  personally ,i should say that
 they got the ,reformation and deserved 
it4  ,but it matters nothing to the     
truth here whether the ,reformation  was

 a just revolt and revenge or an unjust 
culmination and conquest4  ,it is common
 ground to ,catholics and ,protestants  
of intelligence  that evils preceded and
 produced the schism2 and that evils    
were produced by it and have pursued it 
down to our own day4  ,we know it if    
only in the one example1 that the schism
 begat  the ,thirty ,years' ,war1 and   
the ,thirty ,years' ,war begat the      
,seven ,years' ,war1 and the ,seven     
,years' ,war begat the ,great ,war1     
which has passed like a pestilence      
through our own homes4  ,after the      
schism ,prussia could relapse into      
heathenry and erect  an ethical system  
external to the whole culture of        
,christendom4  ,but it can still be     
reasonably asked what begat the schism2 
and it can  still be reasonably         
answered2 something that went wrong with
 medievalism4  ,but what was it that    
went wrong8    ,when ,i looked for the  
last time on the towers of ,zion ,i had 
a  fixed fancy that ,i knew what it was4

  ,it is a thing that cannot  be proved 
or disproved2 it must sound merely an   
ignorant guess4  ,but ,i believe myself 
that it died of disappointment4  ,i     
believe the whole medieval society      
failed1 because the heart  went out of  
it with the loss of ,jerusalem4  ,let it
 be observed  that ,i do not say the    
loss of the war1 or even the ,crusade4  
,for the war against ,islam was not     
lost4  ,the ,moslem was overthrown  in  
the real battle-field1 which was ,spain2
 he was menaced in ,africa2  his        
imperial power was already stricken and 
beginning slowly to decline4  ,i do not 
mean the political calculations about a 
,mediterranean war4  ,i do not even mean
 the ,papal conceptions about the ,holy 
,war4  ,i mean the purely popular       
picture of the ,holy ,city4  ,for while 
the aristocratic thing was a view1 the  
vulgar thing was  a vision2 something   
with which all stories stop1 something  
where  the rainbow ends1 something over 
the hills and far away4  ,in ,spain they

 had been victorious2 but their castle  
was not even  a castle in ,spain4  ,it  
was a castle east of the sun and west   
of the moon1 and the fairy prince could 
find it no more4  ,indeed that idle     
image out of the nursery books fits it  
very exactly4  ,for its mystery was and 
is in standing in the middle1 or as they
  said in the very centre of the earth4 
,it is east of the sun  of ,europe1     
which fills the world with a daylight of
 sanity1  and ripens real and growing   
things4  ,it is west of the moon of     
,asia1  mysterious and archaic with its 
cold volcanoes1 silver mirror  for poets
 and a most fatal magnet for lunatics4  
,anyhow the fall of ,jerusalem1 and in  
that sense the failure of  the          
,crusades1 had a widespread effect1 as  
,i should myself suggest1  for the      
reason ,i have myself suggested4        
,because it had been a  popular         
movement1 it was a popular              
disappointment2 and because it had  been
 a popular movement1 its ideal was an   

image2 a particular picture  in the     
imagination4  ,for poor men are almost  
always particularists2  and nobody has  
ever seen such a thing as a mob of      
pantheists4  ,i have seen in some of    
that lost literature of the old guilds1 
which is now everywhere coming to light1
 a list of the stage  properties        
required for some village play1 one of  
those popular  plays acted by the       
medieval trades unions1 for which the   
guild  of the shipwrights would build   
,noah's ,ark or the guild of the barbers
  provide golden wigs for the haloes of 
the ,twelve ,apostles4  ,the list of    
those crude pieces of stage furniture   
had a curious colour  of poetry about   
it1 like the impromptu apparatus of a   
nursery charade2  a cloud1 an idol with 
a club1 and notably among the rest1 the 
walls  and towers of ,jerusalem4  ,i can
 imagine them patiently painted and     
gilded  as a special feature1 like the  
two tubs of ,mr4 ,vincent ,crummles4    
,but ,i can also imagine that towards   

the end of the ,middle ,ages1  the      
master of the revels might begin to look
 at those towers  of wood and pasteboard
 with a sort of pain1 and perhaps put   
them  away in a corner1 as a child will 
tire of a toy especially if it  is      
associated with a disappointment or a   
dismal misunderstanding4  ,there is     
noticeable in some of the later popular 
poems a  disposition to sulk about the  
,crusades4  ,but though the popular     
feeling had been largely poetical1 the  
same thing did in its  degree occur in  
the political realm that was purely     
practical4  ,the ,moslem had been       
checked1 but he had not been checked    
enough4  ,the whole story of what was   
called the ,eastern ,question1  and     
three-quarters of the wars of the modern
 world1 were due  to the fact that he   
was not checked enough4    ,the only    
thing to do with unconquerable things is
 to conquer them4  ,that alone will cure
 them of invincibility2 or what is      
worse1 their own  vision of             

invincibility4  ,that was the conviction
 of those of us who  would not accept   
what we considered a premature peace    
with ,prussia4  ,that is why we would   
not listen either to the ,tory          
,pro-,germanism  of ,lord ,lansdowne or 
the ,socialist ,pro-,germanism of ,mr4  
,macdonald4  ,if a lunatic believes in  
his luck so fixedly as to feel sure be  
cannot be caught1 he will not only      
believe in it still1 but believe  in it 
more and more1 until the actual instant 
when he is caught4  ,the longer the     
chase1 the more certain he will be of   
escaping2  the more narrow the escapes1 
the more certain will be the escape4    
,and indeed if he does escape it will   
seem a miracle1 and almost  a divine    
intervention1 not only to the pursued   
but to the pursuers4  ,the evil thing   
will chiefly appear unconquerable to    
those who try  to conquer it4  ,it will 
seem after all to have a secret of      
success2  and those who failed against  
it will hide in their hearts  a secret  

of failure4  ,it was that secret of     
failure1 ,i fancy1  that slowly withered
 from within the high hopes of the      
,middle ,ages4  ,christianity and       
chivalry had measured their force       
against ,mahound1  and ,mahound had not 
fallen2 the shadow of his horned helmet1
  the crest of the ,crescent1 still lay 
across their sunnier lands2  the ,horns 
of ,hattin4  ,the streams of life that  
flowed to guilds  and schools and orders
 of knighthood and brotherhoods of      
friars  were strangely changed and      
chilled4  ,so1 if the peace had left    
,prussianism secure even in ,prussia1 ,i
 believe that all the liberal  ideals of
 the ,latins1 and all the liberties of  
the ,english1  and the whole theory of a
 democratic experiment in ,america1     
would have begun to die of a deep and   
even subconscious despair4  ,a vote1 a  
jury1 a newspaper1 would not be as they 
are1  things of which it is hard to make
 the right use1 or any use2  they would 
be things of which nobody would even try

 to make any use4  ,a vote would        
actually look like a vassal's cry of    
haro1  a jury would look like a joust2  
many would no more read headlines  than 
blazon heraldic coats4  ,for these      
medieval things look dead  and dusty    
because of a defeat1 which was none the 
less a defeat  because it was more than 
half a victory4    ,a curious cloud of  
confusion rests on the details of that  
defeat4  ,the ,christian captains who   
acted in it were certainly men on a     
different  moral level from the good    
,duke ,godfrey2 their characters were by
  comparison mixed and even mysterious4 
,perhaps the two determining            
personalities were ,raymond of ,tripoli1
 a skilful soldier whom his  enemies    
seemed to have accused of being much too
 skilful a diplomatist2  and ,renaud of 
,chatillon1 a violent adventurer whom   
his enemies  seem to have accused of    
being little better than a bandit4  ,and
 it is the irony of the incident that   
,raymond got into trouble  for making a 

dubious peace with the ,saracens1 while 
,renaud got  into trouble by making an  
equally dubious war on the ,saracens4   
,renaud exacted from ,moslem travellers 
on a certain road what  he regarded as a
 sort of feudal toll or tax1 and they   
regarded  as a brigand ransom2 and when 
they did not pay he attacked them4      
,this was regarded as a breach of the   
truce2 but probably it would  have been 
easier to regard ,renaud as waging the  
war of a robber1  if many had not       
regarded ,raymond as having made the    
truce of a traitor4  ,probably ,raymond 
was not a traitor1 since the military   
advice he gave  up to the very instant  
of catastrophe was entirely loyal and   
sound1  and worthy of so wise a veteran4
  ,and very likely ,renaud was not      
merely a robber1 especially in his own  
eyes2 and there seems  to be a much     
better case for him than many modern    
writers allow4  ,but the very fact of   
such charges being bandied among the    
factions  shows a certain fall from the 

first days under the headship of  the   
house of ,bouillon4  ,no slanderer ever 
suggested that ,godfrey  was a traitor2 
no enemy ever asserted that ,godfrey was
 only a thief4  ,it is fairly clear that
 there had been a degeneration2 but most
 people  hardly realise sufficiently    
that there had been a very great thing  
from which to degenerate4    ,the first 
,crusades had really had some notion of 
,jerusalem as a  ,new ,jerusalem4  ,i   
mean they had really had a vision of the
 place being  not only a promised land  
but a ,utopia or even an ,earthly       
,paradise4  ,the outstanding fact and   
feature which is seldom seized is this3 
that the social experiment in ,palestine
 was rather in advance of  the social   
experiments in the rest of ,christendom4
  ,having to begin  at the beginning1   
they really began with what they        
considered the best  ideas of their     
time2 like any group of ,socialists     
founding an ideal  ,commonwealth in a   
modern colony4  ,a specialist on this   

period1  ,colonel ,conder of the        
,palestine ,exploration1 has written    
that the core  of the ,code was founded 
on the recommendations of ,godfrey      
himself  in his ,letters of the         
,sepulchre2 and he observes concerning  
it3  ,the basis of these laws was found 
in ,justinian's code1 and they          
presented features as yet quite unknown 
in ,europe1 especially in their  careful
 provision of justice for the bourgeois 
and the peasant1  and for the trading   
communes whose fleets were so necessary 
to the king4  ,not only were free men   
judged by juries of their equals1 but   
the same  applied to those who were     
technically serfs and actually          
aborigines4  ,the original arrangements 
of the ,native ,court seem to me        
singularly  liberal1 even by modern     
standards of the treatment of natives4  
,that in many such medieval codes       
citizens were still called serfs is  no 
more final than the fact that in many   
modern capitalist newspapers  serfs are 

still called citizens4  ,the whole point
 about the villein  was that he was a   
tenant at least as permanent as a       
peasant4  ,he went with the land2 and   
there are a good many hopeless tramps   
starving in streets1 or sleeping in     
ditches1 who might not be sorry  if they
 could go with a little land4  ,it would
 not be very much  worse than           
homelessness and hunger to go with a    
good kitchen garden  of which you could 
always eat most of the beans and        
turnips2  or to go with a good cornfield
 of which you could take a considerable 
proportion of the corn4  ,there has been
 many a modern man would have been  none
 the worse for going about burdened with
 such a green island1  or dragging the  
chains of such a tangle of green living 
things4  ,as a fact1 of course1 this    
system throughout ,christendom was      
already  evolving rapidly into a pure   
peasant proprietorship2 and it will be  
long before industrialism evolves by    
itself into anything so equal  or so    

free4  ,above all1 there appears notably
 that universal mark  of the medieval   
movement2 the voluntary liberation of   
slaves4  ,but we may willingly allow    
that something of the earlier success   
of all this was due to the personal     
qualities of the first knights  fresh   
from the ,west2 and especially to the   
personal justice  and moderation of     
,godfrey and some of his immediate      
kindred4  ,godfrey died young2 his      
successors had mostly short periods of  
power1  largely through the prevalence  
of malaria and the absence of medicine4 
,royal marriages with the more oriental 
tradition of the ,armenian  princes     
brought in new elements of luxury and   
cynicism2  and by the time of the       
disputed truce of ,raymond of ,tripoli1 
the crown had descended to a man named  
,guy of ,lusignan who seems  to have    
been regarded as a somewhat             
unsatisfactory character4  ,he had      
quarrelled with ,raymond1 who was ruler 
of ,galilee1 and a  curious and rather  

incomprehensible concession made by the 
latter1  that the ,saracens should ride 
in arms but in peace round his land1    
led to alleged ,moslem insults to       
,nazareth1 and the outbreak of the      
furious  ,templar1 ,gerard of ,bideford1
 of which mention has been made already4
  ,but the most serious threat to them  
and their ,new ,jerusalem  was the      
emergence among the ,moslems of a man of
 military genius1  and the fact that all
 that land lay now under the shadow of  
the ambition  and ardour of ,saladin4   
,with the breach of the truce1 or even  
the tale of it1 the common  danger of   
,christians was apparent2 and ,raymond  
of ,tripoli repaired  to the royal      
headquarters to consult with his late   
enemy the king2  but he seems to have   
been almost openly treated as a traitor4
  ,gerard of ,bideford1 the fanatic who 
was ,grand ,master of the ,templars1    
forced the king's hand against the      
advice of the wiser soldier1  who had   
pointed out the peril of perishing of   

thirst in the waterless  wastes between 
them and the enemy4  ,into those wastes 
they advanced1  and they were already   
weary and unfit for warfare by the time 
they came in sight of the strange hills 
that will be remembered  for ever under 
the name of the ,horns of ,hattin4  ,on 
those hills1  a few hours later1 the    
last knights of an army of which half   
had  fallen gathered in a final defiance
 and despair round the relic  they      
carried in their midst1 a fragment of   
the ,true ,cross4  ,in that hour fell1  
as ,i have fancied1 more hopes than they
 themselves  could number1 and the glory
 departed from the ,middle ,ages4       
,there fell with them all that ,new     
,jerusalem which was the symbol  of a   
new world1 all those great and growing  
promises and possibilities  of          
,christendom of which this vision was   
the centre1 all that justice  for the   
bourgeois and the peasant1 and for the  
trading communes1  all the guilds that  
gained their charters by fighting for   

the ,cross1  all the hopes of a happier 
transformation of the ,roman ,law wedded
  to charity and to chivalry4  ,there   
was the first slip and the great        
swerving of our fate2 and in that       
wilderness we lost all the things  we   
should have loved1 and shall need so    
long a labour to find again4    ,raymond
 of ,tripoli had hewn his way through   
the enemy and ridden  away to ,tyre4    
,the king1 with a few of the remaining  
nobles1  including ,renaud de           
,chatillon1 were brought before ,saladin
 in his tent4  ,there occurred a scene  
strangely typical of the mingled strains
  in the creed or the culture that      
triumphed on that day2  the stately     
,eastern courtesy and hospitality2 the  
wild ,eastern  hatred and self-will4    
,saladin welcomed the king and          
gracefully  gave him a cup of sherbet1  
which he passed to ,renaud4  ,it is thou
 and not ,i who hast given him to drink1
 said the ,saracen1  preserving the     
precise letter of the punctilio of      

hospitality4  ,then he suddenly flung   
himself raving and reviling upon ,renaud
  de ,chatillon1 and killed the prisoner
 with his own hands4  ,outside1 two     
hundred ,hospitallers and ,templars were
 beheaded on  the field of battle2 by   
one account ,i have read because        
,saladin  disliked them1 and by another 
because they were ,christian priests4   
,there is a strong bias against the     
,christians and in favour of  the       
,moslems and the ,jews in most of the   
,victorian historical works1  especially
 historical novels4  ,and most people of
 modern1  or rather of very recent times
 got all their notions of history  from 
dipping into historical novels4  ,in    
those romances the ,jew is  always the  
oppressed where in reality he was often 
the oppressor4  ,in those romances the  
,arab is always credited with oriental  
dignity  and courtesy and never with    
oriental crookedness and cruelty4  ,the 
same injustice is introduced into       
history1 which by means  of selection   

and omission can be made as fictitious  
as any fiction4  ,twenty historians     
mention the way in which the maddened   
,christian  mob murdered the ,moslems   
after the capture of ,jerusalem1 for one
 who  mentions that the ,moslem         
commander commanded in cold blood the   
murder  of some two hundred of his most 
famous and valiant enemies after  the   
victory of ,hattin4  ,the former cannot 
be shown to have been the act  of       
,tancred1 while the latter was quite    
certainly the act of ,saladin4  ,yet    
,tancred is described as at best a      
doubtful character1  while ,saladin is  
represented as a ,bayard without fear or
 blame4  ,both of them doubtless were   
ordinary faulty fighting men1 but they  
are not judged by an equal balance4  ,it
 may seem a paradox that there  should  
be this prejudice in ,western history in
 favour of ,eastern heroes4  ,but the   
cause is clear enough2 it is the remains
 of the revolt among many  ,europeans   
against their own old religious         

organisation1 which naturally  made them
 hunt through all ages for its crimes   
and its victims4  ,it was natural that  
,voltaire should sympathise more with a 
,brahmin  he had never seen than with a 
,jesuit with whom he was engaged in a   
violent controversy2 and should         
similarly feel more dislike of a        
,catholic  who was his enemy than of a  
,moslem who was the enemy of his enemy4 
,in this atmosphere of natural and even 
pardonable prejudice arose  the habit of
 contrasting the intolerance of the     
,crusaders with  the toleration shown by
 the ,moslems4  ,now as there are two   
sides  to everything1 it would          
undoubtedly be quite possible to tell   
the tale of the ,crusades1 correctly    
enough in detail1 and in such  a way as 
entirely to justify the ,moslems and    
condemn the ,crusaders4  ,but any such  
real record of the ,moslem case would   
have very  little to do with any        
questions of tolerance or intolerance1  
or any modern ideas about religious     

liberty and equality4  ,as the modern   
world does not know what it means itself
 by religious  liberty and equality1 as 
the moderns have not thought out any    
logical  theory of toleration at all    
7for their vague generalisations can    
always be upset by twenty tests from    
,thugs to ,christian ,science7  it would
 obviously be unreasonable to expect the
 moderns  to understand the much clearer
 philosophy of the ,moslems4  ,but some 
rough suggestion of what was really     
involved may be found  convenient in    
this case4    ,islam was not originally 
a movement directed against             
,christianity at all4  ,it did not face 
westwards1 so to speak2 it faced        
eastwards towards  the idolatries of    
,asia4  ,but ,mahomet believed that     
these idols  could be fought more       
successfully with a simpler kind of     
creed2  one might almost say with a     
simpler kind of ,christianity4  ,for he 
included many things which we in the    
,west commonly suppose not  only to be  

peculiar to ,christianity but to be     
peculiar to ,catholicism4  ,many things 
have been rejected by ,protestantism    
that are not  rejected by ,mahometanism4
  ,thus the ,moslems believe in         
,purgatory1  and they give at least a   
sort of dignity to the ,mother of       
,christ4  ,about such things as these   
they have little of the bitterness that 
rankles  in the ,jews and is said       
sometimes to become hideously vitriolic4
  ,while ,i  was in ,palestine a        
distinguished ,moslem said to a         
,christian resident3  ,we also1 as well 
as you1 honour the ,mother of ,christ4  
,never do we speak of her but we call   
her the ,lady ,miriam4  ,i dare not tell
 you what the ,jews call her4    ,the   
real mistake of the ,moslems is         
something much more modern in its       
application than any particular or      
passing persecution of ,christians  as  
such4  ,it lay in the very fact that    
they did think they had a  simpler and  
saner sort of ,christianity1 as do many 

modern ,christians4  ,they thought it   
could be made universal merely by being 
made uninteresting4  ,now a man         
preaching what he thinks is a platitude 
is far more intolerant than a man       
preaching what he admits is a paradox4  
,it was exactly because it seemed       
self-evident1 to ,moslems as  to        
,bolshevists1 that their simple creed   
was suited to everybody1  that they     
wished in that particular sweeping      
fashion to impose it  on everybody4  ,it
 was because ,islam was broad that      
,moslems were narrow4  ,and because it  
was not a hard religion it was a heavy  
rule4  ,because it was without a        
self-correcting complexity1 it allowed  
of those simple and masculine but mostly
 rather dangerous  appetites that show  
themselves in a chieftain or a lord4    
,as it had the simplest sort of         
religion1 monotheism1 so it had  the    
simplest sort of government1 monarchy4  
,there was exactly  the same direct     
spirit in its despotism as in its deism4

  ,the ,code1 the ,common ,law1 the give
 and take of charters  and chivalric    
vows1 did not grow in that golden       
desert4  ,the great sun was in the sky  
and the great ,saladin was in his tent1 
and he must be obeyed unless he were    
assassinated4  ,those who  complain of  
our creeds as elaborate often forget    
that the elaborate  ,western creeds have
 produced the elaborate ,western        
constitutions2  and that they are       
elaborate because they are emancipated4 
,and the real moral of the relations of 
the two great religions is  something   
much more subtle and sincere than any   
mere atrocity tales  against ,turks4    
,it is the same as the moral of the     
,christian refusal  of a ,pagan         
,pantheon in which ,christ should rank  
with ,ammon and ,apollo4  ,twice the    
,christian ,church refused what seemed  
like a handsome  offer of a large       
latitudinarian sort2 once to include    
,christ as a  god and once to include   
him as a prophet2 once by the admission 

of all idols and once by the abandonment
 of all idols4  ,twice the ,church took 
the risk and twice the ,church survived 
alone  and succeeded alone1 filling the 
world with her own children2  and       
leaving her rivals in a desert1 where   
the idols were dead  and the iconoclasts
 were dying4    ,but all this history   
has been hidden by a prejudice more     
general than the particular case of     
,saracens and ,crusaders4  ,the modern1 
or rather the ,victorian prejudice      
against ,crusaders  is positive and not 
relative2 and it would still desire to  
condemn ,tancred if it could not acquit 
,saladin4  ,indeed it is  a prejudice   
not so much against ,crusaders as       
against ,christians4  ,it will not give 
to these heroes of religious war the    
fair measure  it gives to the heroes of 
ordinary patriotic and imperial war4    
,there never was a nobler hero than     
,nelson1 or one more national  or more  
normal4  ,yet ,nelson quite certainly   
did do what ,tancred  almost certainly  

did not do2 break his own word by giving
 up his own  brave enemies to execution4
  ,if the cause of ,nelson in other     
times  comes to be treated as the creed 
of ,tancred has often in recent  times  
been treated1 this incident alone will  
be held sufficient  to prove not only   
that ,nelson was a liar and a scoundrel1
 but that  he did not love ,england at  
all1 did not love ,lady ,hamilton at    
all1  that he sailed in ,english ships  
only to pocket the prize money  of      
,french ships1 and would as willingly   
have sailed in ,french ships  for the   
prize money of ,english ships4  ,that is
 the sort of dull dust  of gold that has
 been shaken like the drifting dust of  
the desert  over the swords and the     
relics1 the crosses and the clasped     
hands of the men who marched to         
,jerusalem or died at ,hattin4  ,in     
these medieval pilgrims every           
inconsistency is a hypocrisy2 while in  
the more modern patriots even an infamy 
is only an inconsistency4  ,i have      

rounded off the story here with the ruin
 at ,hattin because  the whole reaction 
against the pilgrimage had its origin   
there2  and because it was this at least
 that finally lost ,jerusalem4          
,elsewhere in ,palestine1 to say nothing
 of ,africa and ,spain1  splendid       
counter-strokes were still being        
delivered from the ,west1  not the least
 being the splendid rescue by ,richard  
of ,england4  ,but ,i still think that  
with the mere name of that tiny town    
upon  the hills the note of the whole   
human revolution had been struck1  was  
changed and was silent4  ,all the other 
names were only the names  of ,eastern  
towns2 but that was nearer to a man than
 his neighbours2  a village inside his  
village1 a house inside his house4      
,there is a hill above ,bethlehem of a  
strange shape1 with a flat top  which   
makes it look oddly like an island1     
habitable though uninhabited1  when all 
,moab heaves about it and beyond it as  
with the curves  and colours of a sea4  

,its stability suggests in some strange 
fashion what may often be felt in these 
lands with the longest  record of       
culture2 that there may be not only a   
civilisation  but even a chivalry older 
than history4  ,perhaps the table-land  
with its round top has a romantic       
reminiscence of a round table4  ,perhaps
 it is only a fantastic effect of       
evening1 for it is felt  most when the  
low skies are swimming with the colours 
of sunset1  and in the shadows the      
shattered rocks about its base take on  
the shapes of titanic paladins fighting 
and falling around it4  ,i only know    
that the mere shape of the hill and     
vista of the landscape  suggested such  
visions and it was only afterwards that 
,i heard  the local legend1 which says  
it is here that some of the ,christian  
knights made their last stand after they
 lost ,jerusalem and which  names this  
height ,the ,mountain of the ,latins4   
,they fell1 and the ages rolled on them 
the rocks of scorn2  they were buried in

 jests and buffooneries4  ,as the       
,renascence  expanded into the          
rationalism of recent centuries1 nothing
 seemed  so ridiculous as to butcher and
 bleed in a distant desert not only  for
 a tomb1 but an empty tomb4  ,the last  
legend of them withered  under the wit  
of ,cervantes1 though he himself had    
fought in the last  ,crusade at         
,lepanto4  ,they were kicked about like 
dead donkeys  by the cool vivacity of   
,voltaire2 who went off1 very           
symbolically1  to dance attendance on   
the new drill-sergeant of the           
,prussians4  ,they were dissected like  
strange beasts by the serene disgust  of
 ,gibbon1 more serene than the similar  
horror with which  he regarded the      
similar violence of the ,french         
,revolution4  ,by our own time even the 
flippancy has become a platitude4  ,they
 have long been the butt of every       
penny-a-liner who can talk of a  helmet 
as a tin pot1 of every caricaturist on a
 comic paper who can draw  a fat man    

falling off a bucking horse2 of every   
pushing professional  politician who can
 talk about the superstitions of the    
,middle ,ages4  ,great men and small    
have agreed to contemn them2 they were  
renounced  by their children and refuted
 by their biographers2 they were        
exposed1  they were exploded1 they were 
ridiculed and they were right4    ,they 
were proved wrong1 and they were right4 
,they were judged  finally and          
forgotten1 and they were right4         
,centuries after  their fall the full   
experience and development of political 
discovery has shown beyond question that
 they were right4  ,for there is a very 
simple test of the truth2 that the very 
thing which was dismissed1 as a dream of
 the ages of faith1  we have been forced
 to turn into a fact in the ages of     
fact4  ,it is now more certain than it  
ever was before that ,europe must       
rescue some lordship1 or overlordship1  
of these old ,roman provinces4  ,whether
 it is wise for ,england alone to claim 

,palestine1 whether it  would be better 
if the ,entente could do so1 ,i think a 
serious question4  ,but in some form    
they are reverting for the ,roman       
,empire4  ,every opportunity has been   
given for any other empire that could   
be its equal1 and especially for the    
great dream of a mission  for ,imperial 
,islam4  ,if ever a human being had a   
run for his money1  it was the ,sultan  
of the ,moslems riding on his ,arab     
steed4  ,his empire expanded over and   
beyond the great ,greek empire of       
,byzantium2  a last charge of the       
chivalry of ,poland barely stopped it at
 the very  gates of ,vienna4  ,he was   
free to unfold everything that was in   
him1  and he unfolded the death that was
 in him4  ,he reigned and he could  not 
rule2 he was successful and he did not  
succeed4  ,his baffled  and retreating  
enemies left him standing1 and he could 
not stand4  ,he fell finally with that  
other half-heathen power in the ,north1 
with which he had made an alliance      

against the remains of ,roman  and      
,byzantine culture4  ,he fell because   
barbarism cannot stand2  because even   
when it succeeds it rather falls on its 
foes and  crushes them4  ,and after all 
these things1 after all these ages1     
with a wearier philosophy1 with a       
heavier heart1 we have been forced  to  
do again the very thing that the        
,crusaders were derided for doing4      
,what ,western men failed to do for the 
faith1 other ,western men  have been    
forced to do even without the faith4    
,the sons of ,tancred  are again in     
,tripoli4  ,the heirs of ,raymond are   
again in ,syria4  ,and men from the     
,midlands or the ,northumbrian towns    
went again  through a furnace of thirst 
and fever and furious fighting1  to gain
 the same water-courses and invest the  
same cities as of old4  ,they trod the  
hills of ,galilee and the ,horns of     
,hattin threw no shadow  on their souls2
 they crossed dark and disastrous fields
 whose fame  had been hidden from them1 

and avenged the fathers they had        
forgotten4  ,and the most cynical of    
modern diplomatists1 making their       
settlement  by the most sceptical of    
modern philosophies1 can find no        
practical  or even temporary solution   
for this sacred land1 except to bring it
  again under the crown of ,coeur de    
,lion and the cross of ,st4 ,george4    
,there came in through the crooked entry
 beside the great gap  in the wall a    
tall soldier1 dismounting and walking   
and wearing  only the dust-hued habit of
 modern war4  ,there went no trumpet    
before him1 neither did he enter by the 
,golden ,gate2 but the silence  of the  
deserts was full of a phantom           
acclamation1 as when from far  away a   
wind brings in a whisper the cheering of
 many thousand men4  ,for in that hour a
 long-lost cry found fulfilment1 and    
something  counted irrational returned  
in the reason of things4  ,and at last  
even the wise understood1 and at last   
even the learned  were enlightened on a 

need truly and indeed international1    
which a mob  in a darker age had known  
by the light of nature2 something that  
could be denied and delayed and evaded1 
but not escaped for ever4  ,id ,deus    
vult4        ,,chapter ,,xiii    ,,the  
,,problem ,,of ,,zionism    ,there is an
 attitude for which my friends and ,i   
were for a long period  rebuked and even
 reviled2 and of which at the present   
period we are  less likely than ever to 
repent4  ,it was always called          
,anti-,semitism2  but it was always much
 more true to call it ,zionism4  ,at any
 rate  it was much nearer to the nature 
of the thing to call it ,zionism1       
whether or no it can find its           
geographical concentration in ,zion4    
,the substance of this heresy was       
exceedingly simple4  ,it consisted      
entirely in saying that ,jews are ,jews2
 and as a logical consequence  that they
 are not ,russians or ,roumanians or    
,italians or ,frenchmen  or ,englishmen4
  ,during the war the newspapers        

commonly referred to them  as ,russians2
 but the ritual wore so singularly thin 
that ,i remember  one newspaper         
paragraph saying that the ,russians in  
the ,east ,end  complained of the food  
regulations1 because their religion     
forbade  them to eat pork4  ,my own     
brief contact with the ,greek priests   
of the ,orthodox ,church in ,jerusalem  
did not permit me to discover  any trace
 of this detail of their discipline2 and
 even the ,russian  pilgrims were said  
to be equally negligent in the matter4  
,the point for the moment1 however1 is  
that if ,i was violently opposed  to    
anything1 it was not to ,jews1 but to   
that sort of remark about ,jews2  or    
rather to the silly and craven fear of  
making it a remark about ,jews4  ,but my
 friends and ,i had in some general     
sense a policy in the matter2  and it   
was in substance the desire to give     
,jews the dignity  and status of a      
separate nation4  ,we desired that in   
some fashion1  and so far as possible1  

,jews should be represented by ,jews1   
should live  in a society of ,jews1     
should be judged by ,jews and ruled by  
,jews4  ,i am an ,anti-,semite if that  
is ,anti-,semitism4 ,it would seem more 
rational to call it ,semitism4    ,of   
this attitude1 ,i repeat1 ,i am now less
 likely than ever to repent4  ,i have   
lived to see the thing that was         
dismissed as a fad discussed  everywhere
 as a fact2 and one of the most menacing
 facts of the age4  ,i have lived to see
 people who accused me of               
,anti-,semitism  become far more        
,anti-,semitic than ,i am or ever was4  
,i have heard people talking with real  
injustice about the ,jews1  who once    
seemed to think it an injustice to talk 
about them  at all4  ,but1 above all1 ,i
 have seen with my own eyes wild mobs   
marching through a great city1 raving   
not only against ,jews1  but against the
 ,english for identifying themselves    
with the ,jews4  ,i have seen the whole 
prestige of ,england brought into peril1

  merely by the trick of talking about  
two nations as if they were one4  ,i    
have seen an ,englishman arriving in    
,jerusalem with somebody he had  been   
taught to regard as his fellow          
countryman and political colleague1  and
 received as if he had come arm-in-arm  
with a flaming dragon4  ,so do our      
frosty fictions fare when they come     
under that burning sun4    ,twice in my 
life1 and twice lately1 ,i have seen a  
piece of ,english  pedantry bring us    
within an inch of an enormous ,english  
peril4  ,the first was when all the     
,victorian historians and philosophers  
had told us that our ,german cousin was 
a cousin german  and even germane2      
something naturally near and            
sympathetic4  ,that also was an         
identification2 that also was an        
assimilation2  that also was a union of 
hearts4  ,for the second time in a few  
short years1 ,english politicians and   
journalists have discovered  the        
dreadful revenge of reality4  ,to       

pretend that something is what it  is   
not is business that can easily be      
fashionable and sometimes popular4  ,but
 the thing we have agreed to regard as  
what it is not will always  abruptly    
punish and pulverise us1 merely by being
 what it is4  ,for years we were told   
that the ,germans were a sort of        
,englishman  because they were ,teutons2
 but it was all the worse for us when we
  found out what ,teutons really were4  
,for years we were told that ,jews  were
 a sort of ,englishman because they were
 ,british subjects4  ,it is all the     
worse for us now we have to regard them1
  not subjectively as subjects1 but     
objectively as objects2  as objects of a
 fierce hatred among the ,moslems and   
the ,greeks4  ,we are in the absurd     
position of introducing to these people 
a new friend whom they instantly        
recognise as an old enemy4  ,it is an   
absurd position because it is a false   
position2 but it  is merely the penalty 
of falsehood4    ,whether this ,eastern 

anger is reasonable or not may be       
discussed  in a moment2 but what is     
utterly unreasonable is not the anger   
but  the astonishment2 at least it is   
our astonishment at their astonishment4 
,we might believe ourselves in the view 
that a ,jew is an ,englishman2  but     
there was no reason why they should     
regard him as  an ,englishman1 since    
they already recognised him as a ,jew4  
,this is the whole present problem of   
the ,jew in ,palestine2  and it must be 
solved either by the logic of ,zionism  
or the logic  of purely ,english        
supremacy and1 impartiality2 and not by 
what  seems to everybody in ,palestine a
 monstrous muddle of the two4  ,but of  
course it is not only the peril in      
,palestine that has made  the           
realisation of the ,jewish problem1     
which once suffered all  the dangers of 
a fad1 suffer the opposite dangers of a 
fashion4  ,the same journalists who     
politely describe ,jews as ,russians are
  now very impolitely describing certain

 ,russians who are ,jews4  ,many who had
 no particular objection to ,jews as    
,capitalists  have a very great         
objection to them as ,bolshevists4      
,those who  had an innocent             
unconsciousness of the nationality of   
,eckstein1  even when he called himself 
,eckstein1 have managed to discover  the
 nationality of ,braunstein1 even1 when 
he calls1 himself ,trotsky4  ,and much  
of this peril also might easily have    
been lessened1  by the simple proposal  
to call men and things by their own     
names4    ,i will confess1 however1 that
 ,i have no very full sympathy with  the
 new ,anti-,semitism which is merely    
,anti-,socialism4 ,there are good1      
honourable and magnanimous ,jews of     
every type and rank1 there are many  to 
whom ,i am greatly attached among my own
 friends in my own rank2  but if ,i have
 to make a general choice on a general  
chance among  different types of ,jews1 
,i have much more sympathy with the ,jew
  who is revolutionary than the ,jew who

 is plutocratic4  ,in other words1  ,i  
have much more sympathy for the         
,israelite we are beginning to reject1  
than for the ,israelite we have already 
accepted4  ,i have more respect  for him
 when he leads some sort of revolt1     
however narrow and anarchic1  against   
the oppression of the poor1 than when he
 is safe at the head  of a great        
money-lending business oppressing the   
poor himself4  ,it is not the poor      
aliens1 but the rich aliens ,i wish we  
had excluded4  ,i myself wholly reject  
,bolshevism1 not because its actions    
are violent1 but because its very       
thought is materialistic and mean4  ,and
 if this preference is true even of     
,bolshevism1 it is ten times  truer of  
,zionism4  ,it really seems to me rather
 hard that the full  storm of fury      
should have burst about the ,jews1 at   
the very moment  when some of them at   
least have felt the call of a far       
cleaner ideal2  and that when we have   
tolerated their tricks with our country1

  we should turn on them precisely when 
they seek in sincerity  for their own4  
,but in order to judge this ,jewish     
possibility1 we must understand  more   
fully the nature of the ,jewish problem4
  ,we must consider it  from the start1 
because there are still many who do not 
know that  there is a ,jewish problem4  
,that problem has its proof1 of course1 
in the history of the ,jew1 and the fact
 that he came from the ,east4  ,a ,jew  
will sometimes complain of the injustice
 of describing  him as a man of the     
,east2 but in truth another very real   
injustice may be involved in treating   
him as a man of the ,west4  ,very often 
even the joke against the ,jew is rather
 a joke against  those who have made the
 joke2 that is1 a joke against what they
  have made out of the ,jew4  ,this is  
true especially1 for instance1  of many 
points of religion and ritual4  ,thus we
 cannot help feeling1  for instance1    
that there is something a little        
grotesque about  the ,hebrew habit of   

putting on a top-hat as an act of       
worship4  ,it is vaguely mixed up with  
another line of humour1 about another   
class of ,jew1 who wears a large number 
of hats2 and who must not  therefore be 
credited with an extreme or extravagant 
religious zeal1  leading him to pile up 
a pagoda of hats towards heaven4  ,to   
,western eyes1 in ,western conditions1  
there really is something  inevitably   
fantastic about this formality of the   
synagogue4  ,but we ought to remember   
that we have made the ,western          
conditions  which startle the ,western  
eyes4  ,it seems odd to wear a modern   
top-hat  as if it were a mitre or a     
biretta2 it seems quainter still when   
the hat  is worn even for the momentary 
purpose of saying grace before lunch4   
,it seems quaintest of all when1 at some
 ,jewish luncheon parties1  a tray of   
hats is actually handed round1 and each 
guest helps  himself to a hat as a sort 
of hors d'oeuvre4 ,all this could       
easily be turned into a joke2 but we    

ought to realise that the joke  is      
against ourselves4  ,it is not merely we
 who make fun of it1  but we who have   
made it funny4  ,for1 after all1 nobody 
can  pretend that this particular type  
of head-dress is a part of that  uncouth
 imagery setting painting and sculpture 
at defiance  which ,renan remarked in   
the tradition of ,hebrew civilisation4  
,nobody can say that a top-hat was among
 the strange symbolic utensils          
dedicated to the obscure service of the 
,ark2 nobody can suppose  that a top-hat
 descended from heaven among the wings  
and wheels  of the flying visions of the
 ,prophets4  ,for this wild vision the  
,west  is entirely responsible4  ,europe
 has created the ,tower of ,giotto2  but
 it has also created the topper4  ,we of
 the ,west must bear  the burden1 as    
best we may1 both of the responsibility 
and of the hat4  ,it is solely the      
special type and shape of hat that makes
 the ,hebrew  ritual seem ridiculous4   
,performed in the old original ,hebrew  

fashion it is not ridiculous1 but rather
 if anything sublime4  ,for the original
 fashion was an oriental fashion2 and   
the ,jews  are orientals2 and the mark  
of all such orientals is the wearing  of
 long and loose draperies4  ,to throw   
those loose draperies  over the head is 
decidedly a dignified and even poetic   
gesture4  ,one can imagine something    
like justice done to its majesty  and   
mystery in one of the great dark        
drawings of ,william ,blake4  ,it may be
 true1 and personally ,i think it is    
true1 that the ,hebrew  covering of the 
head signifies a certain stress on the  
fear of ,god1  which is the beginning of
 wisdom1 while the ,christian uncovering
  of the head suggests rather the love  
of ,god that is the end of wisdom4  ,but
 this has nothing to do with the taste  
and dignity of the ceremony2  and to do 
justice to these we must treat the ,jew 
as an oriental2  we must even dress him 
as an oriental4    ,i have only taken   
this as one working example out of many 

that  would point to the same           
conclusion4  ,a number of points upon   
which the unfortunate alien is blamed   
would be much improved  if he were1 not 
less of an alien1 but rather more of an 
alien4  ,they arise from his being too  
like us1 and too little like himself4   
,it is obviously the case1 for instance1
 touching that vivid vulgarity  in      
clothes1 and especially the colours of  
clothes1 with which a certain  sort of  
,jews brighten the landscape or seascape
 at ,margate or many  holiday resorts4  
,when we see a foreign gentleman on     
,brighton ,pier  wearing yellow spats1 a
 magenta waistcoat1 and an emerald green
 tie1  we feel that he has somehow      
missed certain fine shades of social    
sensibility and fitness4  ,it might     
considerably surprise the company  on   
,brighton ,pier1 if he were to reply by 
solemnly unwinding his  green necktie   
from round his neck1 and winding it     
round his head4  ,yet the reply would be
 the right one2 and would be equally    

logical  and artistic4  ,as soon as the 
green tie had become a green turban1  it
 might look as appropriate and even     
attractive as the green turban  of any  
pilgrim of ,mecca or any descendant of  
,mahomet1 who walks  with a stately air 
through the streets of ,jaffa or        
,jerusalem4  ,the bright colours that   
make the ,margate ,jews hideous are no  
brighter  than those that make the      
,moslem crowd picturesque4  ,they are   
only worn  in the wrong place1 in the   
wrong way1 and in conjunction with a    
type  and cut of clothing that is meant 
to be more sober and restrained4        
,little can really be urged against him1
 in that respect1  except that his      
artistic instinct is rather for colour  
than form1  especially of the kind that 
we ourselves have labelled good form4   
,this is a mere symbol1 but it is so    
suitable a symbol that ,i have  often   
offered it symbolically as a solution of
 the ,jewish problem4  ,i have felt     
disposed to say3  let all liberal       

legislation stand1  let all literal and 
legal civic equality stand2 let a ,jew  
occupy any  political or social position
 which he can gain in open competition2 
let us not listen for a moment to any   
suggestions of reactionary  restrictions
 or racial privilege4  ,let a ,jew be   
,lord ,chief justice1  if his           
exceptional veracity and reliability    
have clearly marked  him out for that   
post4  ,let a ,jew be ,archbishop of    
,canterbury1  if our national religion  
has attained to that receptive  breadth 
that would render such a transition     
unobjectionable  and even unconscious4  
,but let there be one single-clause     
bill2  one simple and sweeping law about
 ,jews1 and no other4  ,be it enacted1  
by the ,king's ,most ,excellent         
,majesty1 by and with  the advice of the
 ,lords ,spiritual and ,temporal and the
 ,commons in  ,parliament assembled1    
that every ,jew must be dressed like an 
,arab4  ,let him sit on the ,woolsack1  
but let him sit there dressed as an     

,arab4  ,let him preach in ,st4 ,paul's 
,cathedral1 but let him preach there    
dressed as an ,arab4  ,it is not my     
point at present to dwell on  the       
pleasing if flippant fancy of how much  
this would transform  the political     
scene2 of the dapper figure of ,sir     
,herbert ,samuel  swathed as a ,bedouin1
 or ,sir ,alfred ,mond gaining a yet    
greater  grandeur from the gorgeous and 
trailing robes of the ,east4  ,if my    
image is quaint my intention is quite   
serious2 and the point  of it is not    
personal to any particular ,jew4  ,the  
point applies  to any ,jew1 and to our  
own recovery of healthier relations with
 him4  ,the point is that we should know
 where we are2 and he would know  where 
he is1 which is in a foreign land4      
,this is but a parenthesis and a        
parable1 but it brings us to  the       
concrete controversial matter which is  
the ,jewish problem4  ,only a few years 
ago it was regarded as a mark of a      
blood-thirsty  disposition to admit that

 the ,jewish problem was a problem1  or 
even that the ,jew was a ,jew4  ,through
 much misunderstanding certain  friends 
of mine and myself have persisted in    
disregarding the silence  thus imposed2 
but facts have fought for us more       
effectively than words4  ,by this time  
nobody is more conscious of the ,jewish 
problem  than the most intelligent and  
idealistic of the ,jews4  ,the folly  of
 the fashion by which ,jews often       
concealed their ,jewish names1  must    
surely be manifest by this time even to 
those who concealed them4  ,to mention  
but one example of the way in which this
 fiction  falsified the relations of    
everybody and everything1 it is enough  
to note that it involved the ,jews      
themselves in a quite new  and quite    
needless unpopularity in the first years
 of the war4  ,a poor little ,jewish    
tailor1 who called himself by a ,german 
name merely  because he lived for a     
short time in a ,german town1 was       
instantly  mobbed in ,whitechapel for   

his share in the invasion of ,belgium4  
,he was cross-examined about why he had 
damaged the tower of ,rheims2  and      
talked to as if he had killed ,nurse    
,cavell with his own pair  of shears4   
,it was very unjust2 quite as unjust as 
it would be to ask  ,bethmann-,hollweg  
why he had stabbed ,eglon or hewn ,agag 
in pieces4  ,but it was partly at least 
the fault of the ,jew himself1  and of  
the whole of that futile and unworthy   
policy which had led  him to call       
himself ,bernstein when his name was    
,benjamin4    ,in such cases the ,jews  
are accused of all sorts of faults  they
 have not got2 but there are faults that
 they have got4  ,some of the charges   
against them1 as in the cases ,i have   
quoted  concerning religious ritual and 
artistic taste1 are due merely  to the  
false light in which they are regarded4 
,other faults  may also be due to the   
false position in which they are placed4
  ,but the faults exist2 and nothing was
 ever more dangerous to everybody       

concerned than the recent fashion of    
denying or ignoring them4  ,it was done 
simply by the snobbish habit of         
suppressing the experience  and evidence
 of the majority of people1 and         
especially of the majority  of poor     
people4  ,it was done by confining the  
controversy to a small  world of wealth 
and refinement1 remote from all the real
 facts involved4  ,for the rich are the 
most ignorant people on earth1 and the  
best  that can be said for them1 in     
cases like these1 is that their         
ignorance often reaches the point of    
innocence4    ,i will take a typical    
case1 which sums up the whole of this   
absurd fashion4  ,there was a           
controversy in the columns  of an       
important daily paper1 some time ago1 on
 the subject  of the character of       
,shylock in ,shakespeare4  ,actors and  
authors  of distinction1 including some 
of the most brilliant of living ,jews1  
argued the matter from the most varied  
points of view4  ,some said that        

,shakespeare was prevented by the       
prejudices  of his time from having a   
complete sympathy with ,shylock4  ,some 
said that ,shakespeare was only         
restrained by fear of the powers  of his
 time from expressing his complete      
sympathy with ,shylock4  ,some wondered 
how or why ,shakespeare had got hold of 
such a queer  story as that of the pound
 of flesh1 and what it could possibly   
have  to do with so dignified and       
intellectual a character as ,shylock4   
,in short1 some wondered why a man of   
genius should be so much  of an         
,anti-,semite1 and some stoutly declared
 that he must  have been a ,pro-,semite4
 ,but all of them in a sense admitted   
that they were puzzled as to what the   
play was about4  ,the correspondence    
filled column after column and went on  
for weeks4  ,and from one end of that   
correspondence to the other1 no human   
being even so much as mentioned the word
 usury4 ,it is exactly  as if twenty    
clever critics were set down to talk for

 a month about  the play of ,macbeth1   
and were all strictly forbidden to      
mention  the word murder4    ,the play  
called ,the ,merchant of ,venice happens
 to be about usury1  and its story is a 
medieval satire on usury4  ,it is the   
fashion  to say that it is a clumsy and 
grotesque story2 but as a fact it  is an
 exceedingly good story4  ,it is a      
perfect and pointed story  for its      
purpose1 which is to convey the moral of
 the story4  ,and the  moral is that the
 logic of usury is in its nature at war 
with life1  and might logically end in  
breaking into the bloody house of life4 
,in other words1 if a creditor can      
always claim a man's tools or a  man's  
home1 he might quite as justly claim one
 of his arms or legs4  ,this principle  
was not only embodied in medieval       
satires but in very  sound medieval     
laws1 which set a limit on the usurer   
who was trying  to take away a man's    
livelihood1 as the usurer in the play is
 trying  to take away a man's life4     

,and if anybody thinks that usury can   
never go to lengths wicked enough to be 
worthy of so wild an image1  then that  
person either knows nothing about it or 
knows too much4  ,he is either one of   
the innocent rich who have never been   
the victims  of money-lenders1 or else  
one of the more powerful and influential
  rich who are money-lenders themselves4
    ,all this1 ,i say1 is a fact that   
must be faced1 but there is another side
  to the case1 and it is this that the  
genius of ,shakespeare discovered4      
,what he did do1 and what the medieval  
satirist did not do1 was to attempt  to 
understand ,shylock2 in the true sense  
to sympathise with ,shylock  the        
money-lender1 as he sympathised with    
,macbeth the murderer4  ,it was not to  
deny that the man was an usurer1 but to 
assert  that the usurer was a man4  ,and
 the ,elizabethan dramatist does  make  
him a man1 where the medieval satirist  
made him a monster4  ,shakespeare not   
only makes him a man but a perfectly    

sincere and self-respecting man4  ,but  
the point is this3  that he is a sincere
 man who sincerely believes in usury4   
,he is a self-respecting man who does   
not despise himself  for being a usurer4
  ,in one word1 he regards usury as     
normal4  ,in that word is the whole     
problem of the popular impression of the
 ,jews4  ,what ,shakespeare suggested   
about the ,jew in a subtle and          
sympathetic way1  millions of plain men 
everywhere would suggest about him in a 
rough and ready way4  ,regarding the    
,jew in relation to his ideas  about    
interest1 they think either that he is  
simply immoral2  or that if he is moral1
 then he has a different morality4      
,there is a great deal more to be said  
about how far this is true1  and about  
what are its causes and excuses if it is
 true4  ,but it is an old story1 surely1
 that the worst of all cures is  to deny
 the disease4    ,to recognise the      
reality of the ,jewish problem is very  
vital for  everybody and especially     

vital for ,jews4  ,to pretend that there
 is no  problem is to precipitate the   
expression of a rational impatience1    
which unfortunately can only express    
itself in the rather irrational  form of
 ,anti-,semitism4 ,in the controversies 
of ,palestine and ,syria1  for instance1
 it is very common to hear the answer   
that the ,jew is no  worse than the     
,armenian4  ,the ,armenian also is said 
to be unpopular  as a money-lender and a
 mercantile upstart2 yet the ,armenian  
figures  as a martyr for the ,christian 
faith and a victim of the ,moslem fury4 
,but this is one of those arguments     
which really carry their own answer4    
,it is like the sceptical saying that   
man is only an animal1  which of itself 
provokes the retort1 ,what an animal6   
,the very similarity only emphasises the
 contrast4  ,is it seriously  suggested 
that we can substitute the ,armenian for
 the ,jew in  the study of a world-wide 
problem like that of the ,jews8  ,could 
we  talk of the competition of          

,armenians among ,welsh shop-keepers1   
or of the crowd of ,armenians on        
,brighton ,parade8  ,can ,armenian usury
  be a common topic of talk in a camp in
 ,california and in a club  in          
,piccadilly8  ,does ,shakespeare show us
 a tragic ,armenian towering  over the  
great ,venice of the ,renascence8  ,does
 ,dickens show us  a realistic ,armenian
 teaching in the thieves' kitchens of   
the slums8  ,when we meet ,mr4 ,vernon  
,vavasour1 that brilliant financier1 do 
we  speculate on the probability of his 
really having an ,armenian name  to     
match his ,armenian nose8  ,is it true1 
in short1 that all sorts  of people1    
from the peasants of ,poland to the     
peasants of ,portugal1  can agree more  
or less upon the special subject of     
,armenia8  ,obviously it  is not in the 
least true2 obviously the ,armenian     
question is only  a local question of   
certain ,christians1 who may be more    
avaricious  than other ,christians4     
,but it is the truth about the ,jews4   

,it is only half the truth1 and one     
which by itself would be very unjust  to
 the ,jews4  ,but it is the truth1 and  
we must realise it as sharply  and      
clearly as we can4  ,the truth is that  
it is rather strange  that the ,jews    
should be so anxious for international  
agreements4  ,for one of the few really 
international agreements is a suspicion 
of the ,jews4    ,a more practical      
comparison would be one between the     
,jews  and gipsies2 for the latter at   
least cover several countries1  and can 
be tested by the impressions of very    
different districts4  ,and in some      
preliminary respects the comparison is  
really useful4  ,both races are in      
different ways landless1 and therefore  
in  different ways lawless4  ,for the   
fundamental laws are land laws4  ,in    
both cases a reasonable man will see    
reasons for unpopularity1  without      
wishing to indulge any task for         
persecution4  ,in both cases he will    
probably recognise the reality of a     

racial fault1  while admitting that it  
may be largely a racial misfortune4     
,that is to say1 the drifting and       
detached condition may be largely  the  
cause of ,jewish usury or gipsy         
pilfering2 but it is not common sense   
to contradict the general experience of 
gipsy pilfering or ,jewish usury4  ,the 
comparison helps us to clear away some  
of the cloudy evasions  by which modern 
men have tried to escape from that      
experience4  ,it is absurd to say that  
people are only prejudiced against the  
money  methods of the ,jews because the 
medieval church has left behind a hatred
  of their religion4  ,we might as well 
say that people only protect  the       
chickens from the gipsies because the   
medieval church undoubtedly  condemned  
fortune-telling4 ,it is unreasonable for
 a ,jew to complain  that ,shakespeare  
makes ,shylock and not ,antonio the     
ruthless money-lender2  or that ,dickens
 makes ,fagin and not ,sikes the        
receiver of stolen goods4  ,it is as if 

a gipsy were to complain when a novelist
 describes a child  as stolen by the    
gipsies1 and not by the curate or the   
mothers' meeting4  ,it is to complain of
 facts and probabilities4  ,there may be
 good gipsies2  there may be good       
qualities which specially belong to them
 as gipsies2  many students of the      
strange race have1 for instance1 praised
 a  certain dignity and self-respect    
among the women of the ,romany4  ,but no
 student ever praised them for an       
exaggerated respect  for private        
property1 and the whole argument about  
gipsy theft can  be roughly repeated    
about ,hebrew usury4  ,above all1 there 
is one  other respect in which the      
comparison is even more to the point4   
,it is the essential fact of the whole  
business1 that the ,jews do not  become 
national merely by becoming a political 
part of any nation4  ,we might as well  
say that the gipsies had villas in      
,clapham1  when their caravans stood on 
,clapham ,common4    ,but1 of course1   

even this comparison between the two    
wandering peoples  fails in the presence
 of the greater problem4  ,here again   
even the attempt  at a parallel leaves  
the primary thing more unique4  ,the    
gipsies do  not become municipal merely 
by passing through a number of parishes1
  and it would seem equally obvious that
 a ,jew need not become ,english  merely
 by passing through ,england on his way 
from ,germany to ,america4  ,but the    
gipsy not only is not municipal1 but he 
is not called municipal4  ,his caravan  
is not immediately painted outside with 
the number and name  of #abc ,laburnam  
,road1 ,clapham4  ,the municipal        
authorities generally  notice the wheels
 attached to the new cottage1 and       
therefore do not  fall into the error4  
,the gipsy may halt in a particular     
parish1  but he is not as a rule        
immediately made a parish councillor4   
,the cases in which a travelling tinker 
has been suddenly made  the mayor of an 
important industrial town must be       

comparatively rare4  ,and if the poor   
vagabonds of the ,romany blood are      
bullied by mayors  and magistrates1     
kicked off the land by landlords1       
pursued by policemen  and generally     
knocked about from pillar to post1      
nobody raises  an outcry that they are  
the victims of religious persecution2   
nobody summons meetings in public halls1
 collects subscriptions  or sends       
petitions to parliament2 nobody         
threatens anybody else  with the        
organised indignation of the gipsies all
 over the world4  ,the case of the ,jew 
in the nation is very different from    
that of the tinker in the town4  ,the   
moral elements that can  be appealed to 
are of a very different style and scale4
  ,no gipsies are millionaires4    ,in  
short1 the ,jewish problem differs from 
anything like the gipsy  problem in two 
highly practical respects4  ,first1 the 
,jews already  exercise colossal        
cosmopolitan financial power4  ,and     
second1  the modern societies they live 

in also grant them vital forms of       
national  political power4  ,here the   
vagrant is already as rich as a miser   
and the vagrant is actually made a      
mayor4  ,as will be seen shortly1  there
 is a ,jewish side of the story which   
leads really to the same  ending of the 
story2 but the truth stated here is     
quite independent  of any sympathetic or
 unsympathetic view of the race in      
question4  ,it is a question of fact1   
which a sensible ,jew can afford to     
recognise1  and which the most sensible 
,jews do very definitely recognise4  ,it
 is really irrational for anybody to    
pretend that the ,jews  are only a      
curious sect of ,englishmen1 like the   
,plymouth ,brothers  or the ,seventh    
,day ,baptists1 in the face of such a   
simple fact  as the family of           
,rothschild4  ,nobody can pretend that  
such  an ,english sect can establish    
five brothers1 or even cousins1  in the 
five great capitals of ,europe4  ,nobody
 can pretend that the  ,seventh ,day    

,baptists are the seven grandchildren of
 one grandfather1  scattered            
systematically among the warring nations
 of the earth4  ,nobody thinks the      
,plymouth ,brothers are literally       
brothers1  or that they are likely to be
 quite as powerful in ,paris or in      
,petrograd as in ,plymouth4    ,the     
,jewish problem can be stated very      
simply after all4  ,it is normal for the
 nation to contain the family4  ,with   
the ,jews the family is generally       
divided among the nations4  ,this may   
not appear to matter to those who do not
 believe in nations1  those who really  
think there ought not to be any nations4
  ,but ,i literally fail to understand  
anybody who does believe in patriotism  
thinking that this state of affairs can 
be consistent with it4  ,it is in its   
nature intolerable1 from a national     
standpoint1  that a man admittedly      
powerful in one nation should be bound  
to a man equally powerful in another    
nation1 by ties more private  and       

personal even than nationality4  ,even  
when the purpose is not  any sort of    
treachery1 the very position is a sort  
of treason4  ,given the passionately    
patriotic peoples of the west of ,europe
 especially1  the state of things cannot
 conceivably be satisfactory to a       
patriot4  ,but least of all can it      
conceivably be satisfactory to a ,jewish
 patriot2  by which ,i do not mean a    
sham ,englishman or a sham ,frenchman1  
but a man who is sincerely patriotic for
 the historic and highly  civilised     
nation of the ,jews4    ,for what may be
 criticised here as ,anti-,semitism is  
only the negative  side of ,zionism4    
,for the sake of convenience ,i have    
begun by stating  it in terms of the    
universal popular impression which some 
call  a popular prejudice4  ,but such a 
truth of differentiation is equally     
true on both its different sides4       
,suppose somebody proposes to mix up    
,england and ,america1 under some absurd
 name like the ,anglo-,saxon ,empire4   

,one man may say1 ,why should the jolly 
,english inns and villages  be swamped  
by these priggish provincial ,yankees8  
,another may say1  ,why should the real 
democracy of a young country be tied to 
your  snobbish old squirarchy8  ,but    
both these views are only versions  of  
the same view of a great ,american3     
,god never made one people  good enough 
to rule another4    ,the primary point  
about ,zionism is that1 whether it is   
right or wrong1  it does offer a real   
and reasonable answer both to           
,anti-,semitism  and to the charge of   
,anti-,semitism4 ,the usual phrases     
about  religious persecution and racial 
hatred are not reasonable answers1  or  
answers at all4  ,these ,jews do not    
deny that they are ,jews2  they do not  
deny that ,jews may be unpopular2 they  
do not deny that there  may be other    
than superstitious reasons for their    
unpopularity4  ,they are not obliged to 
maintain that when a ,piccadilly dandy  
talks  about being in the hands of the  

,jews he is moved by the theological    
fanaticism that prevails in ,piccadilly2
 or that when a silly youth on  ,derby  
,day says he was done by a dirty ,jew1  
he is merely conforming to that         
,christian orthodoxy which is one of the
 strict traditions of the ,turf4  ,they 
are not1 like some other ,jews1 forced  
to pay so extravagant  a compliment to  
the ,christian religion as to suppose it
 the ruling  motive of half the         
discontented talk in clubs and          
public-houses1  of nearly every business
 man who suspects a foreign financier1  
or nearly every working man who grumbles
 against the local  pawn-broker4        
,religious mania1 unfortunately1 is not 
so common4  ,the ,zionists do not need  
to deny any of these things2  what they 
offer is not a denial but a diagnosis   
and a remedy4  ,whether their diagnosis 
is correct1 whether their remedy  is    
practicable1 we will try to consider    
later1 with something  like a fair      
summary of what is to be said on both   

sides4  ,but their theory1 on the face  
of it1 is perfectly reasonable4  ,it is 
the theory that any abnormal qualities  
in the ,jews are due  to the abnormal   
position of the ,jews4  ,they are       
traders rather  than producers because  
they have no land of their own from     
which to produce1 and they are          
cosmopolitans rather than patriots      
because they have no country of their   
own for which to be patriotic4  ,they   
can no more become farmers while they   
are vagrant than they  could have built 
the ,temple of ,solomon while they were 
building  the ,pyramids of ,egypt4      
,they can no more feel the full stream  
of nationalism while they wander in the 
desert of nomadism than  they could     
bathe in the waters of ,jordan while    
they were weeping  by the waters of     
,babylon4  ,for exile is the worst kind 
of bondage4  ,in insisting upon that at 
least the ,zionists have insisted upon  
a profound truth1 with many applications
 to many other moral issues4  ,it is    

true that for any one whose heart is set
 on a particular  home or shrine1 to be 
locked out is to be locked in4  ,the    
narrowest possible prison for him is the
 whole world4    ,it will be well to    
notice briefly1 however1 how the        
principle  applies to the two           
,anti-,semitic arguments already        
considered4  ,the first is the charge of
 usury and unproductive loans1 the      
second  the charge either of treason or 
of unpatriotic detachment4  ,the charge 
of usury is regarded1 not unreasonably1 
as only  a specially dangerous          
development of the general charge of    
uncreative commerce and the refusal of  
creative manual exercise2  the          
unproductive loan is only a minor form  
of the unproductive labour4  ,it is     
certainly true that the latter complaint
 is1 if possible1  commoner than the    
former1 especially in comparatively     
simple  communities like those of       
,palestine4  ,a very honest ,moslem     
,arab  said to me1 with a singular blend

 of simplicity and humour1 ,a ,jew  does
 not work2 but he grows rich4  ,you     
never see a ,jew working2  and yet they 
grow rich4  ,what ,i want to know is1   
why do we not  all do the same8  ,why do
 we not also do this and become rich8   
,this is1 ,i need hardly say1 an        
over-simplification4 ,jews often  work  
hard at some things1 especially         
intellectual things4  ,but the same     
experience which tells us that we have  
known many industrious  ,jewish         
scholars1 ,jewish lawyers1 ,jewish      
doctors1 ,jewish pianists1              
chess-players and so on1 is an          
experience which cuts both ways4  ,the  
same experience1 if carefully consulted1
 will probably tell us  that we have not
 known personally many patient ,jewish  
ploughmen1  many laborious ,jewish      
blacksmiths1 many active ,jewish hedgers
  and ditchers1 or even many energetic  
,jewish hunters and fishermen4  ,in     
short1 the popular impression is        
tolerably true to life1  as popular     

impressions very often are2 though it is
 not fashionable  to say so in these    
days of democracy and                   
self-determination4 ,jews  do not       
generally work on the land1 or in any of
 the handicrafts  that are akin to the  
land2 but the ,zionists reply that this 
is  because it can never really be their
 own land4  ,that is ,zionism1  and that
 has really a practical place in the    
past and future of ,zion4    ,patriotism
 is not merely dying for the nation4    
,it is dying  with the nation4  ,it is  
regarding the fatherland not merely  as 
a real resting-place like an inn1 but as
 a final resting-place1  like a house or
 even a grave4  ,even the most ,jingo of
 the ,jews  do not feel like this about 
their adopted country2 and ,i doubt  if 
the most intelligent of the ,jews would 
pretend that they did4  ,even if we can 
bring ourselves to believe that         
,disraeli lived  for ,england1 we cannot
 think that he would have died with her4
  ,if ,england had sunk in the ,atlantic

 he would not have sunk with her1  but  
easily floated over to ,america to stand
 for the ,presidency4  ,even if we are  
profoundly convinced that ,mr4 ,beit or 
,mr4 ,eckstein  had patriotic tears in  
his eyes when he obtained a gold        
concession  from ,queen ,victoria1 we   
cannot believe that in her absence he   
would  have refused a similar concession
 from the ,german ,emperor4  ,when the  
,jew in ,france or in ,england says he  
is a good patriot  he only means that he
 is a good citizen1 and he would put it 
more truly if he said he was a good     
exile4  ,sometimes indeed  he is an     
abominably bad citizen1 and a most      
exasperating and  execrable exile1 but  
,i am not talking of that side of the   
case4  ,i am assuming that a man like   
,disraeli did really make a romance  of 
,england1 that a man like ,dernburg did 
really make a romance  of ,germany1 and 
it is still true that though it was a   
romance1  they would not have allowed it
 to be a tragedy4  ,they would have     

seen that the story had a happy ending1 
especially for themselves4  ,these ,jews
 would not have died with any ,christian
 nation4    ,but the ,jews did die with 
,jerusalem4  ,that is the first and     
last great truth in ,zionism4           
,jerusalem was destroyed and ,jews  were
 destroyed with it1 men who cared no    
longer to live because  the city of     
their faith had fallen4  ,it may be     
questioned whether  all the ,zionists   
have all the sublime insanity of the    
,zealots4  ,but at least it is not      
nonsense to suggest that the ,zionists  
might feel like this about ,zion4  ,it  
is nonsense to suggest  that they would 
ever feel like this about ,dublin or    
,moscow4  ,and so far at least the truth
 both in ,semitism and ,anti-,semitism  
is included in ,zionism4    ,it is a    
commonplace that the infamous are more  
famous than the famous4  ,byron noted1  
with his own misanthropic moral1 that we
 think more  of ,nero the monster who   
killed his mother than of ,nero the     

noble  ,roman who defeated ,hannibal4   
,the name of ,julian more often suggests
  ,julian the ,apostate than ,julian the
 ,saint2 though the latter crowned  his 
canonisation with the sacred glory of   
being the patron saint  of inn-keepers4 
,but the best example of this unjust    
historical  habit is the most famous of 
all and the most infamous of all4  ,if  
there is one proper noun which has      
become a common noun1  if there is one  
name which has been generalised till it 
means a thing1  it is certainly the name
 of ,judas4  ,we should hesitate perhaps
 to call  it a ,christian name1 except  
in the more evasive form of ,jude4  ,and
 even that1 as the name of a more       
faithful apostle1 is another            
illustration of the same injustice2 for1
 by comparison with the other1  ,jude   
the faithful might almost be called     
,jude the obscure4  ,the critic who     
said1 whether innocently or ironically1 
,what wicked  men these early           
,christians were6 was certainly more    

successful  in innocence than in irony2 
for he seems to have been innocent or   
ignorant of the whole idea of the       
,christian communion4  ,judas ,iscariot 
was one of the very earliest of all     
possible early ,christians4  ,and the   
whole point about him was that his hand 
was in the same dish2  the traitor is   
always a friend1 or he could never be a 
foe4  ,but the point for the moment is  
merely that the name is known           
everywhere merely as the name of a      
traitor4  ,the name of ,judas nearly    
always means ,judas ,iscariot2 it hardly
 ever means ,judas ,maccabeus4  ,and if 
you shout out ,judas to a politician in 
the thick of a political  tumult1 you   
will have some difficulty in soothing   
him afterwards1  with the assurance that
 you had merely traced in him something 
of that splendid zeal and valour which  
dragged down the tyranny  of ,antiochus1
 in the day of the great deliverance of 
,israel4    ,those two possible uses of 
the name of ,judas would give us yet    

another  compact embodiment of the case 
for ,zionism4  ,numberless international
  ,jews have gained the bad name of     
,judas1 and some have certainly  earned 
it4  ,if you have gained or earned the  
good name of ,judas1  it can quite      
fairly and intelligently be affirmed    
that this was not  the fault of the     
,jews1 but of the peculiar position of  
the ,jews4  ,a man can betray like      
,judas ,iscariot in another man's house2
  but a man cannot fight like ,judas    
,maccabeus for another man's temple4    
,there is no more truly rousing         
revolutionary story amid all the stories
  of mankind1 there is no more perfect  
type of the element of chivalry  in     
rebellion1 than that magnificent tale of
 the ,maccabee who stabbed  from        
underneath the elephant of ,antiochus   
and died under the fall  of that huge   
and living castle4  ,but it would be    
unreasonable to ask  ,mr4 ,montagu to   
stick a knife into the elephant on which
 ,lord ,curzon1  let us say1 was riding 

in all the pomp of ,asiatic imperialism4
  ,for ,mr4 ,montagu would not be       
liberating his own land2 and therefore  
he naturally prefers to interest himself
 either in operations in silver  or in  
somewhat slower and less efficient      
methods of liberation4  ,in short1      
whatever we may think of the financial  
or social services  such as were        
rendered to ,england in the affair of   
,marconi1 or to ,france  in the affair  
of ,panama1 it must be admitted that    
these exhibit  a humbler and more       
humdrum type of civic duty1 and do not  
remind  us of the more reckless virtues 
of the ,maccabees or the ,zealots4  ,a  
man may be a good citizen of anywhere1  
but he cannot be a national  hero of    
nowhere2 and for this particular type of
 patriotic passion  it is necessary to  
have a patria4  ,the ,zionists therefore
 are  maintaining a perfectly reasonable
 proposition1 both about the charge  of 
usury and the charge of treason1 if they
 claim that both could  be cured by the 

return to a national soil as promised in
 ,zionism4    ,unfortunately they are   
not always reasonable about their own   
reasonable proposition4  ,some of them  
have a most unlucky habit  of ignoring1 
and therefore implicitly denying1 the   
very evil  that they are wisely trying  
to cure4  ,i have already remarked  this
 irritating innocence in the first of   
the two questions2  the criticism that  
sees everything in ,shylock except the  
point of him1  or the point of his      
knife4  ,how in the politics of         
,palestine at this  moment this first   
question is in every sense the primary  
question4  ,palestine has hardly as yet 
a patriotism to be betrayed2 but it     
certainly has a peasantry to be         
oppressed1 and especially to be         
oppressed as so many peasantries have   
been with usury and forestalling4  ,the 
,syrians and ,arabs and all the         
agricultural and pastoral populations   
of ,palestine are1 rightly or wrongly1  
alarmed and angered at the advent  of   

the ,jews to power2 for the perfectly   
practical and simple  reason of the     
reputation which the ,jews have all over
 the world4  ,it is really ridiculous in
 people so intelligent as the ,jews1    
and especially so intelligent as the    
,zionists1 to ignore so enormous  and   
elementary a fact as that reputation and
 its natural results4  ,it may or may   
not in this case be unjust2 but in any  
case it  is not unnatural4  ,it may be  
the result of persecution1 but it  is   
one that has definitely resulted4  ,it  
may be the consequence  of a            
misunderstanding2 but it is a           
misunderstanding that must itself  be   
understood4  ,rightly or wrongly1       
certain people in ,palestine  fear the  
coming of the ,jews as they fear the    
coming of the locusts2  they regard them
 as parasites that feed on a community  
by a  thousand methods of financial     
intrigue and economic exploitation4  ,i 
could understand the ,jews indignantly  
denying this1 or eagerly  disproving it1

 or best of all1 explaining what is true
 in it while  exposing what is untrue4  
,what is strange1 ,i might almost say   
weird1  about the attitude of some quite
 intelligent and sincere ,zionists1  is 
that they talk1 write and apparently    
think as if there were no  such thing in
 the world4    ,i will give one curious 
example from one of the best and most   
brilliant of the ,zionists4  ,dr4       
,weizmann is a man of large mind  and   
human sympathies2 and it is difficult to
 believe that any one  with so fine a   
sense of humanity can be entirely empty 
of anything  like a sense of humour4    
,yet1 in the middle of a very temperate 
and magnanimous address on ,zionist     
,policy1 he can actually  say a thing   
like this1 ,the ,arabs need us with our 
knowledge1  and our experience and our  
money4  ,if they do not have us they    
will fall into the hands of others1 they
 will fall among sharks4  ,one is       
tempted for the moment to doubt whether 
any one else  in the world could have   

said that1 except the ,jew with his     
strange  mixture of brilliancy and      
blindness1 of subtlety and simplicity4  
,it is much as if ,president ,wilson    
were to say1 ,unless ,america deals     
with ,mexico1 it will be dealt with by  
some modern commercial power1  that has 
trust-magnates and hustling             
millionaires4  ,but would  ,president   
,wilson say it8  ,it is as if the       
,german ,chancellor had said1  ,we must 
rush to the rescue of the poor          
,belgians1 or they may be put  under    
some system with a rigid militarism and 
a bullying bureaucracy4  ,but would even
 a ,german ,chancellor put it exactly   
like that8  ,would anybody put it in the
 exact order of words and structure of  
sentence in which ,dr4 ,weizmann has put
 it8  ,would even the ,turks say1  ,the 
,armenians need us with our order and   
our discipline and our arms4  ,if they  
do not have us they will fall into the  
hands of others1 they will  perhaps be  
in danger of massacres4  ,i suspect that

 a ,turk would see  the joke1 even if it
 were as grim a joke as the massacres   
themselves4  ,if the ,zionists wish to  
quiet the fears of the ,arabs1 surely   
the  first thing to do is to discover   
what the ,arabs are afraid of4  ,and    
very little investigation will reveal   
the simple truth that they  are very    
much afraid of sharks2 and that in their
 book of symbolic  or heraldic zoology  
it is the ,jew who is adorned with the  
dorsal fin  and the crescent of cruel   
teeth4  ,this may be a fairy-tale about 
a fabulous animal2 but it is one which  
all sorts of races believe1  and        
certainly one which these races believe4
    ,but the case is yet more curious   
than that4  ,these simple tribes  are   
afraid1 not only of the dorsal fin and  
dental arrangements  which ,dr4         
,weizmann may say 7with some justice7   
that he has not got2  they are also     
afraid of the other things which he says
 he has got4  ,they may be in error1 at 
the first superficial glance1  in       

mistaking a respectable professor for a 
shark4  ,but they can hardly be mistaken
 in attributing to the respectable      
professor what he himself considers as  
his claims to respect4  ,and as the     
imagery about the shark may be too      
metaphorical  or almost mythological1   
there is not the smallest difficulty in 
stating in plain words what the ,arabs  
fear in the ,jews4  ,they fear1  in     
exact terms1 their knowledge and their  
experience and their money4  ,the ,arabs
 fear exactly the three things which he 
says they need4  ,only the ,arabs would 
call it a knowledge of financial        
trickery  and an experience of political
 intrigue1 and the power given  by      
hoards of money not only of their own   
but of other peoples4  ,about ,dr4      
,weizmann and the true ,zionists this is
 self-evidently unjust2  but about      
,jewish influence of the more visible   
and vulgar kind  it has to be proved to 
be unjust4  ,feeling as ,i do the force 
of the real case for ,zionism1 ,i       

venture most earnestly  to implore the  
,jews to disprove it1 and not to dismiss
 it4  ,but above all ,i implore them not
 to be content with assuring us again   
and again of their knowledge and their  
experience and their money4  ,that is   
what people dread like a pestilence or  
an earthquake2  their knowledge and     
their experience and their money4  ,it  
is needless for ,dr4 ,weizmann to tell  
us that he does not desire  to enter    
,palestine like a ,junker or drive      
thousands of ,arabs forcibly  out of the
 land2 nobody supposes that ,dr4        
,weizmann looks like a ,junker2  and    
nobody among the enemies of the ,jews   
says that they have driven  their foes  
in that fashion since the wars with the 
,canaanites4  ,but for the ,jews to     
reassure us by insisting on their own   
economic  culture or commercial         
education is exactly like the ,junkers  
reassuring us by insisting on the       
unquestioned supremacy of  their ,kaiser
 or the unquestioned obedience of their 

soldiers4  ,men bar themselves in their 
houses1 or even hide themselves  in     
their cellars1 when such virtues are    
abroad in the land4    ,in short the    
fear of the ,jews in ,palestine1        
reasonable or unreasonable1  is a thing 
that must be answered by reason4  ,it is
 idle for the unpopular  thing to answer
 with boasts1 especially boasts of the  
very quality  that makes it unpopular4  
,but ,i think it could be answered by   
reason1  or at any rate tested by       
reason2 and the tests by consideration4 
,the principle is still as stated above2
 that the tests must  not merely insist 
on the virtues the ,jews do show1 but   
rather  deal with the particular virtues
 which they are generally accused  of   
not showing4  ,it is necessary to       
understand this more thoroughly  than it
 is generally understood1 and especially
 better than it  is usually stated in   
the language of fashionable controversy4
  ,for the question involves the whole  
success or failure of ,zionism4  ,many  

of the ,zionists know it2 but ,i rather 
doubt whether most of  the              
,anti-,zionists know that they know it4 
,and some of the phrases  of the        
,zionists1 such as those that ,i have   
noted1 too often tend  to produce the   
impression that they ignore when they   
are not ignorant4  ,they are not        
ignorant2 and they do not ignore in     
practice2  even when an intellectual    
habit makes them seem to ignore in      
theory4  ,nobody who has seen a ,jewish 
rural settlement1 such as ,rishon1  can 
doubt that some ,jews are sincerely     
filled with the vision  of sitting under
 their own vine and fig-tree1 and even  
with its  accompanying lesson that it is
 first necessary to grow the fig-tree   
and the vine4    ,the true test of      
,zionism may seem a topsy-turvy test4   
,it will not succeed by the number of   
successes1 but rather  by the number of 
failures1 or what the world 7and        
certainly  not least the ,jewish world7 
has generally called failures4  ,it will

 be tested1 not by whether ,jews can    
climb to the top  of the ladder1 but by 
whether ,jews can remain at the bottom2 
not by whether they have a hundred arts 
of becoming important1  but by whether  
they have any skill in the art of       
remaining insignificant4  ,it is often  
noted that the intelligent ,israelite   
can rise to positions  of power and     
trust outside ,israel1 like ,witte in   
,russia or ,rufus ,isaacs  in ,england4 
,it is generally bad1 ,i think1 for     
their adopted country2  but in any case 
it is no good for the particular problem
 of their  own country4  ,palestine     
cannot have a population of ,prime      
,ministers  and ,chief ,justices2 and if
 those they rule and judge are not      
,jews1  then we have not established a  
commonwealth but only an oligarchy4  ,it
 is said again that the ancient ,jews   
turned their enemies  into hewers of    
wood and drawers of water4  ,the modern 
,jews have  to turn themselves into     
hewers of wood and drawers of water4    

,if they cannot do that1 they cannot    
turn themselves into citizens1  but only
 into a kind of alien bureaucrats1 of   
all kinds  the most perilous and the    
most imperilled4  ,hence a ,jewish      
state will not be a success when the    
,jews in it are successful1  or even    
when the ,jews in it are statesmen4  ,it
 will be a success  when the ,jews in it
 are scavengers1 when the ,jews in it   
are sweeps1  when they are dockers and  
ditchers and porters and hodmen4  ,when 
the ,zionist can point proudly to a     
,jewish navvy who has not  risen in the 
world1 an under-gardener who is not now 
taking his ease  as an upper-gardener1 a
 yokel who is still a yokel1 or even a  
village  idiot at least sufficiently    
idiotic to remain in his village1  then 
indeed the world will come to blow the  
trumpets and lift  up the heads of the  
everlasting gates2 for ,god will have   
turned  the captivity of ,zion4         
,zionists of whose sincerity ,i am      
personally convinced1  and of whose     

intelligence anybody would be convinced1
 have told  me that there really is1 in 
places like ,rishon1 something like a   
beginning of this spirit2 the love of   
the peasant for his land4  ,one lady1   
even in expressing her conviction of it1
 called it this  very un-,jewish        
characteristic4  ,she was perfectly well
 aware both of  the need of it in the   
,jewish land1 and the lack of it in the 
,jewish race4  ,in short she was well   
aware of the truth of that seemingly    
topsy-turvy  test ,i have suggested2    
that of whether men are worthy to be    
drudges4  ,when a humorous and humane   
,jew thus accepts the test1 and honestly
  expects the ,jewish people to pass it1
 then ,i think the claim  is very       
serious indeed1 and one not lightly to  
be set aside4  ,i do certainly think it 
a very serious responsibility under the 
circumstances to set it altogether      
aside4  ,it is our whole complaint      
against the ,jew that he does not till  
the soil or toil with the spade2  it is 

very hard on him to refuse him if he    
really says1 ,give me  a soil and ,i    
will till it2 give me a spade and ,i    
will use it4  ,it is our whole reason   
for distrusting him that he cannot      
really love  any of the lands in which  
he wanders2 it seems rather indefensible
 to be  deaf to him if he really says1  
,give me a land and ,i will love it4  ,i
 would certainly give him a land or some
 instalment of the land1  7in what      
general sense ,i will try to suggest a  
little later7 so long  as his conduct on
 it was watched and tested according to 
the principles  ,i have suggested4  ,if 
he asks for the spade he must use the   
spade1  and not merely employ the spade1
 in the sense of hiring half a hundred  
men to use spades4  ,if he asks for the 
soil he must till the soil2  that is he 
must belong to the soil and not merely  
make the soil  belong to him4  ,he must 
have the simplicity1 and what many would
  call the stupidity of the peasant4    
,he must not only call a spade  a spade1

 but regard it as a spade and not as a  
speculation4  ,by some true conversion  
the urban and modern man must be not    
only on the soil1 but of the soil1 and  
free from our urban trick  of inventing 
the word dirt for the dust to which we  
shall return4  ,he must be washed in    
mud1 that he may be clean4    ,how far  
this can really happen it is very hard  
for anybody1  especially a casual       
visitor1 to discover in the present     
crisis4  ,it is admitted that there is  
much ,arab and ,syrian labour employed2 
and this in itself would leave all the  
danger of the ,jew  as a mere           
capitalist4  ,the ,jews explain it1     
however1 by saying  that the ,arabs will
 work for a lower wage1 and that this is
  necessarily a great temptation to the 
struggling colonists4  ,in this they may
 be acting naturally as colonists1 but  
it is none  the less clear that they are
 not yet acting literally as labourers4 
,it may not be their fault that they are
 not proving themselves to  be peasants2

 but it is none the less clear that this
 situation in itself  does not prove    
them to be peasants4  ,so far as that is
 concerned1  it still remains to be     
decided finally whether a ,jew will be  
an  agricultural labourer1 if he is a   
decently paid agricultural labourer4    
,on the other hand1 the leaders of these
 local experiments1  if they have not   
yet shown the higher materialism of     
peasants1  most certainly do not show   
the lower materialism of capitalists4   
,there can be no doubt of the patriotic 
and even poetic spirit in which  many of
 them hope to make their ancient        
wilderness blossom like the rose4  ,they
 at least would still stand among the   
great prophets of ,israel1  and none the
 less though they prophesied in vain4   
,i have tried to state fairly the case  
for ,zionism1 for the reason  already   
stated2 that ,i think it intellectually 
unjust that any attempt  of the ,jews to
 regularise their position should merely
 be rejected  as one of their           

irregularities4  ,but ,i do not disguise
 the enormous  difficulties of doing it 
in the particular conditions ,of        
,palestine4  ,in fact the greatest of   
the real difficulties of ,zionism is    
that it  has to take place in ,zion4    
,there are other difficulties1 however1 
which when they are not specially the   
fault of ,zionists are  very much the   
fault of ,jews4  ,the worst is the      
general impression  of a business       
pressure from the more brutal and       
businesslike type  of ,jew1 which       
arouses very violent and very just      
indignation4  ,when ,i was in ,jerusalem
 it was openly said that ,jewish        
financiers  had complained of the low   
rate of interest at which loans were    
made  by the government to the          
peasantry1 and even that the government 
had yielded to them4  ,if this were true
 it was a heavier reproach  to the      
government even than to the ,jews4  ,but
 the general truth  is that such a state
 of feeling seems to make the simple and

 solid  patriotism of a ,palestinian    
,jewish nation practically impossible1  
and forces us to consider some          
alternative or some compromise4  ,the   
most sensible statement of a compromise 
,i heard among the ,zionists  was       
suggested to me by ,dr4 ,weizmann1 who  
is a man not only highly  intelligent   
but ardent and sympathetic4  ,and the   
phrase he used  gives the key to my own 
rough conception of a possible solution1
  though he himself would probably1 not 
accept that solution4    ,dr4 ,weizmann 
suggested1 if ,i understood him rightly1
 that he did  not think ,palestine could
 be a single and simple national        
territory  quite in the sense of        
,france2 but he did not see why it      
should not  be a commonwealth of cantons
 after the manner of ,switzerland4      
,some of these could be ,jewish cantons1
 others ,arab cantons1  and so on       
according to the type of population4    
,this is in itself  more reasonable than
 much that is suggested on the same     

side2  but the point of it for my own   
purpose is more particular4  ,this idea1
 whether it correctly represents ,dr4   
,weizmann's meaning  or no1 clearly     
involves the abandonment of the         
solidarity  of ,palestine1 and tolerates
 the idea of groups of ,jews being      
separated from each other by populations
 of a different type4  ,now if once this
 notion be considered admissible1 it    
seems to me  capable of considerable    
extension4  ,it seems possible that     
there  might be not only ,jewish cantons
 in ,palestine but ,jewish cantons      
outside ,palestine1 ,jewish colonies in 
suitable and selected  places in        
adjacent parts or in many other parts of
 the world4  ,they might be affiliated  
to some official centre in ,palestine1  
or even in ,jerusalem1 where there would
 naturally be at least some  great      
religious headquarters of the scattered 
race and religion4  ,the nature of that 
religious centre it must be for ,jews to
 decide2  but ,i think if ,i were a ,jew

 ,i would build the ,temple without     
bothering about the site of the ,temple4
  ,that they should  have the old site1 
of course1 is not to be thought of2  it 
would raise a ,holy ,war from ,morocco  
to the marches of ,china4  ,but seeing  
that some of the greatest of the deeds  
of ,israel were done1  and some of the  
most glorious of the songs of ,israel   
sung1  when their only temple was a box 
carried about in the desert1  ,i cannot 
think that the mere moving of the       
situation of the place  of sacrifice    
need even mean so much to that historic 
tradition  as it would to many others4  
,that the ,jews should have some high   
place of dignity and ritual in          
,palestine1 such as a great building    
like the ,mosque of ,omar1 is certainly 
right and reasonable2  for upon no      
theory can their historic connection be 
dismissed4  ,i think it is sophistry to 
say1 as do some ,anti-,semites1  that   
the ,jews have no more right there than 
the ,jebusites4  ,if there are          

,jebusites they are ,jebusites without  
knowing it4  ,i think it sufficiently   
answered in the fine phrase of an       
,english priest1  in many ways more     
,anti-,semitic than ,i3  ,the people    
that remembers  has a right4  ,the very 
worst of the ,jews1 as well as the very 
best1  do in some sense remember4  ,they
 are hated and persecuted and           
frightened into false names and double  
lives2 but they remember4  ,they lie1   
they swindle1 they betray1 they oppress2
 but they remember4  ,the more we happen
 to hate such elements among the        
,hebrews the more  we admire the manly  
and magnificent elements among the more 
vague  and vagrant tribes of ,palestine1
 the more we must admit that paradox4   
,the unheroic have the heroic memory2   
and the heroic people  have no memory4  
,but whatever the ,jewish nation might  
wish to do about a national shrine  or  
other supreme centre1 the suggestion for
 the moment is that something  like a   
,jewish territorial scheme might really 

be attempted1 if we permit  the ,jews to
 be scattered no longer as individuals  
but as groups4  ,it seems possible that 
by some such extension of the definition
 of ,zionism  we might ultimately       
overcome even the greatest difficulty of
 ,zionism1  the difficulty of resettling
 a sufficient number of so large a race 
on so small a land4  ,for if the        
advantage of the ideal to the ,jews  is 
to gain the promised land1 the advantage
 to the ,gentiles is to get  rid of the 
,jewish problem1 and ,i do not see why  
we should obtain  all their advantage   
and none of our own4  ,therefore ,i     
would leave  as few ,jews as possible in
 other established nations1 and to these
  ,i would give a special position best 
described as privilege2  some sort of   
self-governing enclave with special laws
 and exemptions2  for instance1 ,i would
 certainly excuse them from             
conscription1  which ,i think a gross   
injustice in their case4 ,footnote3 ,of 
course  the privileged exile would also 

lose the rights of a native4  ,a ,jew   
might be treated as respectfully as a   
foreign ambassador1  but a foreign      
ambassador is a foreigner4  ,finally1 ,i
 would give  the same privileged        
position to all ,jews everywhere1 as an 
alternative  policy to ,zionism1 if     
,zionism failed by the test ,i have     
named2  the only true and the only      
tolerable test2 if the ,jews had not  so
 much failed as peasants as succeeded as
 capitalists4    ,there is one word to  
be added2 it will be noted that         
inevitably  and even against some of my 
own desires1 the argument has returned  
to that recurrent conclusion1 which was 
found in the ,roman ,empire  and the    
,crusades4  ,the ,european can do       
justice to the ,jew2  but it must be the
 ,european who does it4  ,such a        
possibility  as ,i have thrown out1 and 
any other possibility that any one can  
think of1 becomes at once impossible    
without some idea of a general          
suzerainty of ,christendom over the     

lands of the ,moslem and the ,jew4      
,personally1 ,i think it would be better
 if it were a general  suzerainty of    
,christendom1 rather than a particular  
supremacy  of ,england4  ,and ,i feel   
this1 not from a desire to restrain  the
 ,english power1 but rather from a      
desire to defend it4  ,i think there is 
not a little danger to ,england in the  
diplomatic  situation involved2 but that
 is a diplomatic question that it  is   
neither within my power or duty to      
discuss adequately4  ,but if ,i think it
 would be wiser for ,france and ,england
 together  to hold ,syria and ,palestine
 together rather than separately1  that 
only completes and clinches the         
conclusion that has haunted me1  with   
almost uncanny recurrence1 since ,i     
first saw ,jerusalem  sitting on the    
hill like a turreted town in ,england or
 in ,france2  and for one moment the    
dark dome of it was again the ,templum  
,domini1  and the tower on it was the   
,tower of ,tancred4    ,anyhow with the 

failure of ,zionism would fall the last 
and best attempt at a rationalistic     
theory of the ,jew4  ,we should be left 
facing a mystery which no other         
rationalism has  ever come so near to   
providing within rational cause and     
cure4  ,whatever we do1 we shall not    
return to that insular innocence and    
comfortable unconsciousness of          
,christendom1 in which the ,victorian   
agnostics could suppose that the        
,semitic problem was a brief  medieval  
insanity4  ,in this as in greater       
things1 even if we lost  our faith we   
could not recover our agnosticism4  ,we 
can never  recover agnosticism1 any more
 than any other kind of ignorance4  ,we 
know that there is a ,jewish problem2 we
 only hope that there  is a ,jewish     
solution4  ,if there is not1 there is no
 other4  ,we cannot believe again that  
the ,jew is an ,englishman with certain 
theological theories1 any more than we  
can believe again any other part  of the
 optimistic materialism whose temple is 

the ,albert ,memorial4  ,a scheme of    
guilds may be attempted and may be a    
failure2  but never again can we respect
 mere ,capitalism for its success4  ,an 
attack may be made on political         
corruption1 and it may be a failure2    
but never again can we believe that our 
politics are not corrupt4  ,and so      
,zionism may be attempted and may be a  
failure2  but never again can we        
ourselves be at ease in ,zion4  ,or     
rather1 ,i should say1 if the ,jew      
cannot be at ease in ,zion we  can never
 again persuade ourselves that he is at 
ease out of ,zion4  ,we can only salute 
as it passes that restless and          
mysterious figure1  knowing at last that
 there must be in him something mystical
 as well  as mysterious2 that whether in
 the sense of the sorrows of ,christ  or
 of the sorrows of ,cain1 he must pass  
by1 for he belongs to ,god4             
,,conclusion    ,to have worn a large   
scallop shell in my hat in the streets  
of ,london  might have been deemed      

ostentatious1 to say nothing of carrying
 a staff  like a long pole2 and wearing 
sandals might have proclaimed rather    
that ,i had not come from ,jerusalem but
 from ,letchworth1 which some  identify 
with the ,new ,jerusalem descending out 
of heaven from ,god4  ,lacking such     
attributes1 ,i passed through ,south    
,england as one  who might have come    
from ,ramsgate or from anywhere2 and the
 only  symbol left to me of my          
pilgrimage was a cheap ring of metal    
coloured like copper and brass4  ,for on
 it was written in ,greek  characters   
the word ,jerusalem1 and though it may  
be less valuable  than a brass nail1 ,i 
do not think you can buy it in the      
,strand4  ,all those enormous and       
everlasting things1 all those gates of  
bronze  and mosaics of purple and       
peacock colouring1 all those chapels of 
gold  and columns of crimson marble1 had
 all shrivelled up and dwindled  down to
 that one small thread of red metal     
round my finger4  ,i could not help     

having a feeling1 like ,aladdin1 that if
 ,i  rubbed the ring perhaps all those  
towers would rise again4  ,and there was
 a sort of feeling of truth in the fancy
 after all4  ,we talk of the changeless 
,east2 but in one sense the impression  
of it is really rather changing1 with   
its wandering tribes and its  shifting  
sands1 in which the genii of the ,east  
might well build  the palace or the     
paradise of a day4  ,as ,i saw the low  
and solid  ,english cottages rising     
around me amid damp delightful thickets 
under rainy skies1 ,i felt that in a    
deeper sense it is rather  we who build 
for permanence or at least for a sort of
 peace4  ,it is something more than     
comfort2 a relative and reasonable      
contentment4  ,and there came back on me
 like a boomerang a rather indescribable
  thought which had circled round my    
head through most of my journey2  that  
,christendom is like a gigantic bronze  
come out of the furnace  of the ,near   
,east2 that in ,asia is only the fire   

and in ,europe  the form4  ,the nearest 
to what ,i mean was suggested in that   
very striking book ,form and ,colour1 by
 ,mr4 ,march ,philips4  ,when ,i spoke  
of the idols of ,asia1 many moderns may 
well have murmured  against such a      
description of the ideals of ,buddha or 
,mrs4 ,besant4  ,to which ,i can only   
reply that ,i do know a little about the
 ideals1  and ,i think ,i prefer the    
idols4  ,i have far more sympathy with  
the enthusiasm for a nice green or      
yellow idol1 with nine arms  and three  
heads1 than with the philosophy         
ultimately represented  by the snake    
devouring his tail2 the awful sceptical 
argument  in a circle by which          
everything begins and ends in the mind4 
,i would far rather be a fetish         
worshipper and have a little fun1  than 
be an oriental pessimist expected always
 to smile like an optimist4  ,now it    
seems to me that the fighting ,christian
 creed is the one  thing that has been  
in that mystical circle and broken out  

of it1  and become something real as    
well4  ,it has gone westward by a sort  
of centrifugal force1 like a stone from 
a sling2 and so made  the revolving     
,eastern mind1 as the ,franciscan said  
in ,jerusalem1  do something at last4   
,anyhow1 although ,i carried none of the
 trappings of a pilgrim ,i felt         
strongly disposed to take the privileges
 of one4  ,i wanted to be  entertained  
at the firesides of total strangers1 in 
the medieval manner1  and to tell them  
interminable tales of my travels4  ,i   
wanted to linger  in ,dover1 and try it 
on the citizens of that town4  ,i nearly
 got  out of the train at several       
wayside stations1 where ,i saw secluded 
cottages which might be brightened by a 
little news from the ,holy ,land4  ,for 
it seemed to me that all my             
fellow-countrymen must be my friends2   
all these ,english places had come much 
closer together after travels  that     
seemed in comparison as vast as the     
spaces between the stars4  ,the         

hop-fields of ,kent seemed to me like   
outlying parts of my own  kitchen       
garden2 and ,london itself to be really 
situated at ,london ,end4  ,london was  
perhaps the largest of the suburbs of   
,beaconsfield4  ,by the time ,i came to 
,beaconsfield itself1 dusk was dropping 
over the beechwoods and the white       
cross-roads4 ,the distance seemed  to   
grow deeper and richer with darkness as 
,i went up the long  lanes towards my   
home2 and in that distance1 as ,i drew  
nearer1  ,i heard the barking of a dog4